Gallup poll says consumers prefer to shop for their own groceries
Photo: Shipt

Gallup poll says consumers prefer to shop for their own groceries

Big name grocers have been putting huge resources into getting online grocery shopping right, but a recent Gallup poll indicates that customers just aren’t feeling it.

In a survey of 1,033 U.S. adults, 84 percent said they never order groceries online, reports Supermarket News. About 11 percent order groceries online for pickup or delivery twice a month or less, while only four percent do so once a week or more.

In terms of demographics, online grocery shoppers skew wealthy and have children. Only seven percent of people in categories earning less than $75,000 reported buying online groceries, whereas 12 percent of people earning $75,000 or more do. And only seven percent of shoppers without children reported buying groceries online once a month, while 14 percent with a child under the age of 18 in the house do.

Low adoption rates may be cause for concern, given that rarely a week goes by without an announcement of a major chain launching or enhancing an online grocery offering.

So far in August alone, Walmart has announced the pilot of a new robotic backend to manage online orders in its supercenters. Amazon has added curbside grocery pickup for online orders as a Prime membership perk at Whole Foods. Subscribers in 24 markets already have the option of Prime Now two-hour grocery delivery. 

Target has continued to roll out Shipt same-day delivery of groceries and other categories since the beginning of the year. The retailer acquired the shipping service last December. Kroger offers curbside pickup at 1,250 stores and home delivery from 1,200.

The online push has not come off without hiccups. Late last year, for example, Amazon discontinued its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service in some areas, leading many to question if pure-play e-tail grocery can ever be profitable.

Purchasing groceries online poses unique challenges, since customers are unable to see and feel produce or other perishables. But retailers pushing online grocery are working on ways to mitigate that. Walmart, for instance, has patented a solution which will allows users to see a real 3-D image of each piece of produce, which they can accept for purchase or reject.

BrainTrust

"I don’t think this is bad news for grocery pickup. It’s about right for the maturity of the service at this point in time."

Nikki Baird

VP of Strategy, Aptos


"Grocery stores will probably never be replaced by Amazon or delivery services."

David Biernbaum

Founder & President, David Biernbaum & Associates LLC


"Let’s face it folks. Online shopping for groceries is a moving target."

Zel Bianco

President, founder and CEO Interactive Edge


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Are the Gallup poll findings in line with your view of the online grocery market? What will it take for a larger percentage of Americans to make the switch from shopping in stores to ordering groceries online?

Poll

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Nikki Baird
Active Member
5 years ago

I think there are a lot of things to unpack here. One, you have to remember that, at least in the U.S., the online delivery option is still in its infancy. So we shouldn’t expect a lot of adoption really fast.

Two, of course, there has to be a build-up of trust over time. I’m definitely of the picky sort. Even my husband doesn’t pick fruits and vegetables the way I’d like him to, and we’ve been married more than 20 years! But I find the more I try pickup services, the more I’m okay with trusting the picking teams’ judgment.

Three, at least in suburban Denver, there’s still a fee for getting curbside pickup. It’s somewhere on the order of $5 to $10. Which could easily be 10 percent of a grocery bill. Kroger has been offering “the first three pickups free” in the hopes to get people addicted to the convenience enough to not mind the fee. I’m not there yet, and I suspect there are a lot of less-affluent shoppers who aren’t willing to take the 10 percent hit on price just for convenience. I’m hoping to see minimum purchases or something like that, to get free pickup. That might encourage more participation.

Four, it takes a lot of time and effort to set up the first shopping list, especially when you don’t have access to your past purchase history. Consumers might start out with convenience and build on their list over time — but that takes time.

I don’t think this is bad news for grocery pickup. It’s about right for the maturity of the service at this point in time.

Neil Saunders
Famed Member
5 years ago

The Gallup numbers seem rather high to me. We have a representative consumer panel of over 100,000 grocery shoppers and, of those, some 23.4 percent tried online food shopping at least once in 2017. That said, the fact remains that online has not penetrated as much in grocery as other categories, and purchase frequency remains low.

The U.K. also followed this pattern. However, penetration and frequency are now much higher. Basically, it took time for habits to change. Retailers played a big role in this by offering better online services and offers. I expect the U.S. to follow a similar pattern.

However, I believe there will always be a place for physical grocery stores; they are not doomed to extinction!

Ken Lonyai
Member
5 years ago

Did Gallup do a poll in 1996 asking consumers similar questions about e-commerce? If so, I imagine the results to have been the same or worse.

Whether Henry Ford ever said “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” is true or not, the premise has been proven infinitely. Asking people questions about historical habits as a measure of future traits is futile. It has, at best, little bearing.

Ongoing issues about fresh foods notwithstanding, any grocer strategizing its future 10 years out needn’t be swayed by this kind of “data.” It’s not reported whether subjects were even questioned about what would change their thinking/shopping habits in the future. Instead, online grocery purveyors need to carefully examine the direction of society and the technology that supports it and make informed decisions, based upon logical projections and business strategy over uninformed emotion. Otherwise, please keep you future whimpering about Amazon to yourselves.

Dr. Stephen Needel
Active Member
5 years ago

We’ve been saying for years that online grocery is the next big thing — but we just keep on pushing the expected growth curves out year after year. Maybe it’s time to accept that many people don’t care about online grocery. There is a lot of satisfaction in choosing your own groceries, looking at what’s available and creating menus, finding bargains, etc. We shouldn’t treat online as the “natural” way to shop and worry about what barriers are present. If retailers want shoppers to shop online, it’s up to them to make it more appealing.

Jennifer McDermott
5 years ago

These numbers prove that supermarkets should focus less on driving digital assets and pay more attention to the huge opportunity that exists in physical stores. Despite the numbers showing that this is the preferred method of grocery shopping, most of these people no doubt still see it as a chore. This is where the grocery stores can shine, making that experience all the more convenient, enjoyable and personalized.

Ian Percy
Member
5 years ago

The word isn’t “plastics” any more … it’s “engagement.”

Why, under the deceitful guise of advanced technology, AI, etc. are we trying to stop human beings from being human? Does it not seem like we are trying to turn everything we know into code and algorithms? Food, relationships, entertainment, even human organs. If we lose our soul to semiconductors we won’t be left with much of any value.

I’m somewhat relieved by this article … that there are still many of us who want to engage with our world and at least have the joy of picking out our own cantaloupe and tomatoes.

Georganne Bender
Noble Member
Reply to  Ian Percy
5 years ago

I’m with you, Ian!

Ian Percy
Member
Reply to  Ian Percy
5 years ago

Appreciate the thumbs up and the down one too. Thought of another thing. There’s a wonderful charter school here in PHX that works around a garden concept. Many, if not most, of the kids come from very impoverished and difficult circumstances. If two kids are found fighting they’re sent to the garden to work together for an hour. They usually come back best of friends. There is something “grounding” about the earth that transforms these kid’s lives. Often they literally have no idea how a carrot is grown or where it comes from.

As convenient as it may be for some, robotic delivery of pre-washed produce seems to me to be in the wrong direction; taking us away from Nature instead of toward her. Next thing will be 3D custom-printed vegetables! But what if a family picked their own vegetables out of the ground, got their hands dirty? Of course that’s not always practical, but consider the underlying truth. Nature is totally capable of looking after all her inhabitants … if we’d only get out of the way. If we move too far from the very source of life we’ll not be able to return.

Shep Hyken
Active Member
5 years ago

Customers just have to get used to the new concept of online grocery shopping. It’s not the way “we’ve always done it.” Taking a lesson from the airlines, grocery stores can give an incentive to get shoppers to use the service. Airlines gave extra frequent flier miles if you checked in online. Some gave a small discount if the passenger booked their ticket online. This could be duplicated in some way in the grocery industry.

Art Suriano
Member
5 years ago

Finally, an article with a poll that supports what I’ve been saying all along. Grocers are making a huge mistake investing heavily in a service that the majority of customers are not asking for and this can be dangerous. There is a significant risk of losing sales while focusing on the fastest home delivery possible and ignoring in-store needs as well as by keeping customers out of the stores, losing out on impulse buying opportunities. It will be many years, if ever, before the majority of customers prefer to be doing the bulk of their grocery shopping online. We’re talking food which is very important and that’s no doubt why the majority of customers want to see it before purchasing it. Too often the executive leaders go with their own assumptions, and when their beliefs do not align with what the customers want the retailer will lose, and they will lose big!

Grocers — listen to your customers and make sure you hear them.

Ian Percy
Member
Reply to  Art Suriano
5 years ago

THANK YOU ART!

Georganne Bender
Noble Member
Reply to  Art Suriano
5 years ago

I second that!

Zel Bianco
Zel Bianco
Active Member
5 years ago

Let’s face it folks. Online shopping for groceries is a moving target. Will it continue to grow or will it stay flat and perhaps even decline? Even the experts can’t say for sure.

I do see a day where online shopping for non-perishables will be the norm but not for perishables. While Walmart’s use of 3-D imaging on each piece of produce is certainly a development to watch, I think that people who care about what they eat will continue to be very picky about their produce, meats and fish. In many markets, like NYC, these items are too expensive not to. This is backed up by some of the percentages outlined in the Gallup poll. Those with lower incomes are not going to risk receiving perishables that are less than satisfactory. Heck, sometimes you end up with produce that looks less than perfect even when you selected it yourself because you were in a rush. Do you really expect store associates to do a better job at this than we would do? And if the consumer has the ability to reject an item, where does that leave the consumer who needs that item for a recipe for dinner, or the retailer who needs to absorb the cost to replace it?

At the end of the day, online shopping for groceries will grow but at what cost? It will be interesting to watch which retailers jump in with both feet and bet the farm, and which ones stay on the sidelines to see what happens first and then jump in as they have gone to school on someone else’s nickel.

Richard J. George, Ph.D.
Active Member
5 years ago

I still believe it is only a matter of time until online grocery shopping becomes a way of life for several segments of shoppers. As noted in the Gallup findings, families with children under 18 as well as households with incomes in excess of $75,000 already skew higher than the national average for online grocery shopping. My concern is that retailers who have been vacillating on this issue of whether and how much to spend on developing an online option, will take this as a sign to hold off or back off. The center of the store continues to be under assault in the traditional supermarket. This is a sweet spot for online grocery providers. Holding off or backing off from investing in online should be done with the knowledge of the clear risks associated with that.

David Weinand
Active Member
5 years ago

There will likely be a bifurcation between staples and fresh. There is no reason why penetration can’t reach healthy levels for dry goods, paper goods, etc. A box of Triscuits is not going to get any better if a shopper picks it up online vs. in the store. Personally, I wouldn’t rely on anyone picking my fruits or vegetables or steak so I anticipate that part of the business to remain primarily in the physical space. That doesn’t mean the online value proposition is any weaker. Shoppers can still save a ton of time by ordering their staples online and doing quick trips for fresh.

Carl Van Ostrand
Carl Van Ostrand
Reply to  David Weinand
5 years ago

Agree, segmentation by category tells a more interesting story. There is greater adoption of categories like pet care and household goods/personal care. Vitamins, supplements, snacks, etc. We can see this with passive behavioral data. Produce/frozen will likely have the toughest uphill battle for obvious reasons, but what happens when 20% of consumers are buying the majority of their groceries online and then making a quick stop at the local deli for some ground beef and apples? Will that be noteworthy? There is a lot more depth to this conversation when we start looking at demographic (geography is a big one) and category segmentation. I personally lean towards their being a lot more upside in grocery pickup and delivery.

Andrew Blatherwick
Member
5 years ago

It is not surprising that the majority of consumers do not use online grocery. The food they eat is so important to them, it is something that all people will take more care over. This is especially true when looking at fresh groceries, fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. Yes shoppers may still use online once a month to have home delivered bulky and heavy dry goods, as these are not susceptible to variation in quality. That part of the shopping experience can be seen as drudgery, but when it comes to fresh items that can vary considerably from day to day, they want to quality control it themselves and not have someone else or even worse a robot select items for them. If they are going to the grocery store anyway then they may as well do other shopping whilst there, either to top up what they need or to look for something for that special meal on the weekend.

So why are grocery retailers spending so much time investing in online services? It is a very competitive environment. If you don’t offer that service and someone else does then your customers may just move across to the competition because they can then avail themselves of the service when it suits them. As stated above a large number of customers will use online from time to time for day-to-day bulky items that they know they will always need. No grocer can afford to turn their back on 10 percent or 11 percent of their volume that is currently going through online channels.

Whether they need to offer same-day delivery for this type of shopping is questionable and grocers may, as the market matures, offer different services at a different price for the consumer who wants something urgently compared to one who orders once a month and does not care when it arrives within reason. That would be smart retailing and give the customers better choices. The really good retailers will also link the online with in-store purchases and make the customer feel special, using the store visits to reward them for their loyalty. The market is still very young and retailers are finding their way. As they develop further we will see a lot of new thinking and research to understand more about customers desired behavior to which the retailers will respond.

John Karolefski
Member
5 years ago

Grocers have to invest in online shopping for that small segment of its customers that want it. Grocers don’t want to lose them to a competing store with online ordering capabilities.

Having said that, all of the hoopla over grocery e-commerce has — in my humble opinion — been way overblown. People want to interact with the physical world, and that includes personally selecting what food they purchase for themselves and their families.

Sure online grocery has its place for some, and it will remain one of the services a grocer can offer. But the physical store has dominated shopping and will continue to do so for the vast majority of shoppers. Grocers need to remember that and invest their resources accordingly.

Georganne Bender
Noble Member
5 years ago

Online grocery shopping is still in its infancy, it will take time to change something people have done the same ways for years. But as word of how easy it is builds more people will give it a shot.

I have yet to try it. Buying food for my family is a personal thing; I want to be sure that I choose the best ingredients. It takes time, and sometimes it’s a hassle, and I know this sounds weird, but it’s still easier for me to walk the aisles and fill my cart than it is to worry over creating a list and pointing and clicking away on my computer. The bonus for the retailer of my shopping in-store is all of those impulse purchases.

The other thing to consider is what’s happening on grocery store sales floors right now: samples, cooking demos, wine tastings, live bands and dancing on Friday nights. Smart grocers truly understand what needs to happen to bump up the in-store experience. You’re not going to get the feel of shopping at Wegmans or Mariano’s shopping online.

Online vs. in-store is a push-pull situation where the consumer is the clear winner.

Dr. Stephen Needel
Active Member
Reply to  Georganne Bender
5 years ago

Georganne — let’s remember that Webvan was around in 1998 and Peapod began much earlier. This is not nearly a business in infancy as much as it’s a business model that interests a small portion (perhaps growing) of shoppers.

Dave Nixon
5 years ago

This isn’t any sort of death knell for any of these BOPIS or e-commerce initiatives, it simply proves there need to be multiple acquisition channels as we once believed through a comprehensive CX (dare I say true “omnichannel”) approach. As a brand, you have to provide relevant channels for better engagement in whatever method your shoppers or customers choose to buy from you. This data proves that we still need physical stores and retailers should be very careful about moving too far into a “digital only” strategy.

Doug Garnett
Active Member
5 years ago

I’ve thought for some time that the “order groceries online” fad would turn out to be another Groupon — important only to a relatively small minority of shoppers.

So there’s no surprise in this research. My surprise has been the dedication of stores in starting efforts that seem unlikely to ever contribute to profits.

As to using technology (e.g. Walmart) to solve problems, I don’t “look” at apples — I pick them up to ensure they are firm and sense their weight because that tells me a lot about how they’ll taste.

The other issue missing is that many people arrive at the store with a list but add to it because the physical location (seeing products on the shelves) reminds them of things they forgot.

Humans are physical and live in a physical world. The store is an advantage for people — smart retailers will embrace the advantages instead of giving pick-and-pack costs away for no added revenue.

Ian Percy
Member
Reply to  Doug Garnett
5 years ago

Well said Doug. My sentiments exactly.

Evan Snively
Member
5 years ago

Americans will eventually make the switch, but there will be other significant cultural and technological shifts that come into play to help it along the way. Truly autonomous cars for one could fundamentally shift the norm for how grocery shopping is done.

As it exists today, I do see two aspects of the experience that could be tweaked to improve:

  1. The ability of consumers to add notes on specific foods — especially the perishable ones. When I shop for bananas, I get a spectrum from yellow to green, so they aren’t all ripe on the same day forcing me to repeatedly make banana bread with a bunch of browns. Letting the shopper know little preferences like this would be helpful.
  2. Allowing me to leave a tip after I receive my groceries, not at the time of ordering or delivery. Let me look through my items, make sure everything is accounted for and reward the shopper for picking out superb produce. That might help incent the shopper to be intentional about what they select (but only works in the model where there is a 1:1 relationship with the person selecting your items and delivering them).
Dave Bruno
Active Member
5 years ago

Wow, I am surprised at how many people here in the comments think that online grocery shopping — particularly for produce — is a non-starter. I would say, rather, have patience. Grocers must earn the trust of shoppers — particularly older shoppers — before we will see larger adoption of online grocery shopping. But I do believe that the industry will eventually earn shoppers’ trust and, when combined with Gen Z growing up, that trust will drive respectable online revenues. I also think shoppers will eventually figure out — and then tell us — what it will take to get them to buy more online. Once they figure out what they want, the industry will respond. I do have to say, though, that I doubt they will ask for things like 3-D imagery of their fruit!

Ricardo Belmar
Active Member
5 years ago

I see this survey as giving misleading conclusions. Asking people about their shopping history and using that to predict future habits does not take into account how the shopper journey may change in the interim. We all know online grocery shopping is still in its infancy in the U.S., so you can’t produce a survey that will result in high percentages of shoppers saying they shop online for groceries multiple times per month. This is equivalent of having conducted a survey 10 years ago about general e-commerce shopping habits and found only 10 percent of consumers shop for apparel online. That would never have predicted today’s buying habits.

Second, while we hear so many announcements of these services from grocery retailers, the fact is many people still live in areas that are not covered by these services yet. For example, in my neighborhood we have zero options for online grocery delivery despite having access to brands like Whole Foods, Wegmans, Aldi, Walmart, Target, etc. For every service we are just outside the delivery area despite a high density of homes in the community. If you ran a survey asking people in this community if they would use such services, I fully expect you would find a high percentage of those surveyed would give a resounding “yes!”

Grocers are still figuring out how to handle these services without incurring high costs and it will take some time to expand them to reach more consumers. They are still too limited in many areas of the country.

Ralph Jacobson
Member
5 years ago

Groceries were one of the first product categories available for purchase via the internet. I helped launch a service in Chicago sometime around 1989 that is still in business today. However, this survey confirms what we have been seeing for decades now. Food seems to be the one category that is stubbornly fighting widespread online adoption. Sure there are demographics, like urban city dwellers, who take advantage of online food shopping. Yet I don’t see these numbers growing substantially anytime soon for this most personal product category of all.

Glenn Cantor
Glenn Cantor
5 years ago

Stating that “consumers prefer to shop for their own groceries” overly generalizes the value of online shopping for delivery or pick-up. There are many packaged, center-store products that are exactly the same and for which in-store shopping is unnecessary or inconvenient (razor blades, toilet paper, refrigerator water filters, 50-pound bag of lawn fertilizer). On the other hand, the quality, appearance and selection of fresh products can vary widely. (I want to know what kind of apples are available, see the full selection, and see what they look like.) This makes generalizing online shopping needs inaccurate. Different people have different needs, for different items and for a variety of different occasions.

Lee Kent
Lee Kent
Member
5 years ago

I am not the food shopper in my house nor am I a busy mom but that aside, my husband loves going to the grocery store and I don’t think he is alone. I have many friends who look forward to exploring the aisles to see what is on the specials table. Would they want to shop online? For staple goods maybe yes. If I were in the grocery business, I might want to ask my customers questions along those lines then see how I might make their in-store experience even more fun and rewarding. And that’s my 2 cents.

Trusted Member
5 years ago

It’s not surprising that many consumers still prefer to go to the grocery store and make personal selections, especially for fruit, meats, and fresh foods. Many other grocery store items, too, are personal, with shoppers having special preferences. It’s one thing to have canned foods or laundry detergents delivered, but it’s quite another to choose bakery items, or how firm you like your cantaloupes to be. Grocery stores will probably never be replaced by Amazon or delivery services.

Lisa Goller
Trusted Member
5 years ago

Three key success factors will boost these e-grocery figures over the medium term for retailers who address consumer needs:

1. Trust: Consumers want assurance that grocers will put as much attention and care into their grocery sections as shoppers currently do for themselves. No one wants a bruised apple, mushy banana, or fatty cut of meat. Retailers who consistently deliver quality selections accurately and on time will earn consumer confidence.

2. Refrigeration: Shelf-stable center store products are one thing. However, keeping salads from wilting, milk from spoiling, meat from going rancid, and ice cream from getting soupy is complex, requiring different temperatures throughout the entire shipping and handling process. Retailers need to consider how they will respect different products’ different temperature requirements, especially since fresh, perishable foods are in high demand.

3. Delivery: Partnerships with Shipt, Ocado, and Instacart are giving grocers access to consumers’ front door. If Amazon and Walmart are trying to take the extra step and put the groceries in your fridge, that’s quite a (creepy? yet) compelling competitive edge for consumers seeking convenience and time savings.

Changing consumption habits takes time. Consumer-centric strategy and strategic partnerships will distinguish e-grocery winners.

Ken Wyker
Member
5 years ago

We are still in the early adopter stage for online grocery shopping. For most shoppers, the process of creating the list online is not easier or faster than just going to the store.

More widespread usage will occur as retailers improve the customer interface and better leverage prior purchase history to streamline the experience for their customers.

Ananda Chakravarty
Active Member
5 years ago

Online grocery will grow slowly for select segments of consumers. “Some,” but not all of the factors that weaken the case for rapid online grocery expansion include (in no particular order):

Location: Over 38k groceries in the US, mostly concentrated in metro areas totaling about 1MM sq. miles. There’s a grocery on every block. Add in warehouse clubs, c-stores, drugstores, and department stores — food is available everywhere. The fact that 90% of US lives within 10 miles of a Walmart (the largest US grocer) is no joke.

Consumer Habits:
notably, frequency and basket size, consumers buy 1.5x per week and over $109/week — that’s a nice laundry list of items. Per an FMI report (2018 shopper trends) Nikki outlined the reason for this nicely with the shopping list example.

Housing: A key factor for housing value and selection is proximity to grocery shopping. You may have heard of the “Waitrose Effect” where proximity to the store increases property value per a Yale study.

Food Selection: Customers are still not comfortable with letting others select produce, meats, baked goods, deli, et. al. services. Trust will continue to be a big deal. Why? A poor meat selection ruins the meal for the evening, and negative experience is much stronger than the positive convenience.

Cost: Price remains critical, and delivery costs are sometimes hidden (think Amazon), but always factored in.

Employees: Over 4.8MM people work in grocery — they don’t need delivery, it’s their workplace. They also add to the in-store experience — “Is this Zephyr Squash or Butternut?”

Loyalty: Most consumers are loyal to (and buy from) their local stores, add to that the extensive couponing and loyalty programs that most grocers offer. Inertia will also continue to play a part for a segment of consumers.

Immediacy: For the one-off purchases, groceries and c-stores are perfect examples of convenience. The product is there, pick it up and take it home. Even with same day delivery, the challenges of substitution, refrigeration and supply chain issues are tough on consumer adoption.

eCommerce Habits: People typically buy online in smaller basket sizes (count). For customers doing their weekly food shopping by filling dozens of items into large shopping carts, this shift to buying one item at a time is not an easy transition.

There will be select markets that fit nicely with online, but mainstreaming online grocery will require not just more time, but online has to show appreciable difference in convenience and value.

Ken Morris
Trusted Member
5 years ago

The Gallup poll findings seem like an accurate picture of consumers current acceptance levels of online grocery. While no customer demographic is strongly embracing this process, those with higher income and busy schedules (with young kids or long work hours) are more likely to try online grocery ordering.

Online grocery ordering for produce and expensive meats, may never be ubiquitous. However, it makes a lot of sense for staple products that are consistently and predictably replenished on a weekly or monthly basis. These products are the gateway to get customers more accustomed to the process and make it more of a habit. It will take some time for people to change entrenched habits and some habits may never change!

Chris Weigand
Chris Weigand
5 years ago

As others have said, buy online pick up in store is just starting out, so I’m not worried about the adoption rates. Retailers are experimenting. Consumers are testing. I’ve seen and hear positive things about the concept for grocery shopping. As a grocery shopper myself, I see the appeal in having my shopping done for me. I don’t need to go up and down aisles to pick out repeated commodity items. Brand decisions can happen online when I’m filling out my order. That being said I still like to be able to impulse buy some things, this can happen online or in store if the right pickup options are available (e.g. if I don’t wait in the parking lot, do I go into the store to get my produce, meat and seasonal or impulse items).

One other comment, I don’t think people need to see the produce if they are ordering online as mentioned in the article. Consumers will trust the retailer to deliver quality ingredients, and if not they’ll let the retailer know or shop elsewhere. Focus technology elsewhere.

Larry Corda
5 years ago

I don’t think buying groceries online is as convenient as purchasing non-grocery items. If your groceries are to be delivered, you must be home to receive the shipment unlike non-grocery items that just can be left on your doorstep. If the customer chooses to go to the grocery store to pick it up, then they might as well go into the store and pick up the items themselves and save some money. If customers are buying produce and the quality isn’t consistent every single time, they’re likely to stop buying groceries online. Buying groceries online makes sense for the elderly or disabled who may have a difficult time shopping for themselves, if you’re sick and just need a few items to get you back on your feet or for people who have more money than time.