Photo: @ksenia_she via Twenty20
It’s long been argued by Target, Walmart and other retailers that their most valuable customers shop in both their stores and on their websites. If that’s true for other retailers that sell groceries, then recent research shows that the ranks of the most valuable customers is growing significantly.
Half of all in-store supermarket shoppers have also ordered groceries online in the last 30 days, according to the “2020 U.S. Online & In-Store Grocery Shopping Study” from the Retail Feedback Group (RFG). Younger consumers trend higher in this regard: Gen Z (66 percent), Millennials (61 percent) and Gen X (52 percent). Fewer Baby Boomers (37 percent) and members of the Silent Generation (38 percent) ordered groceries online while also having shopped in stores.
The “U.S. Grocery Shopping Trends” report released by FMI last month confirmed that a higher percentage of grocery sales have shifted online since the novel coronavirus pandemic hit the country.
Last year, consumers reported that 10.5 percent of their grocery spending was done online. In February of this year that figure had risen to 14.5 percent before jumping to 27.9 percent of all purchases in March and April.
A larger percentage of those shopping for groceries online also decided to take a leap of faith and order categories such as produce and fresh meat that they had previously only purchased in stores.
FMI found that fresh produce ranked fifteenth and meat nineteenth on the list of 26 categories purchased online in February. By mid-April, each category had moved into the top 10.
The pandemic has proven to be a sales bonanza for many grocers who have seen revenues increase as more consumers eat their meals at home. New research from Acosta finds that concerns among consumers about going out in public remains high and is likely to drive further in-home consumption.
Thirty-five percent are more concerned than they were at the start of the pandemic, and half of Millennials express those sentiments. The biggest concerns that people have include contracting the virus (72 percent), a new wave of cases and a shutdown (65 percent), the impact on the economy (56 percent) and household finances (48 percent).