Just as people mull the pros and cons of buying a home versus renting a place to live, grocers are weighing similar options when it comes to their IT infrastructure. The ownership model comes with the associated maintenance headaches and sometimes unpredictable expenses. With software as a service (SaaS), the application and the data are typically hosted by the software provider for a monthly fee.

Grocers are increasingly choosing the SaaS option as a way to control costs and provide more flexibility in managing IT expenditures and resources.

“Grocers are the second highest retail segment that we found using SaaS,” says Sahir Anand, senior retail analyst and author of Boston-based Aberdeen Group’s “SaaS in Retail” report. “From the end user’s perspective, the key benefits are the opportunity to more freely try initiatives, remove technical complexity and ensure the highest levels of service. Other benefits include vastly improved scalability, lower total cost of ownership—as you only pay for what you use—and economies of scale.”