More Than Half Of Consumers Say Grocery Delivery Costs Too Much

Consumers will look for virtually any way to reduce grocery-delivery fees, including opting for late-day or next-day delivery to save some dough. 

That's according to new data from digital-commerce platform Mercatus, from a survey conducted by analytics firm Brick Meets Click. 

One in seven households said that products are more expensive online than in the store, and 62% of consumers cited delivery fees as the reason they don’t use grocery delivery services, the survey found.

Of the 1,847 U.S. adults surveyed, more than 40% of consumers who used a grocery delivery service chose to receive next-day deliveries to save money, versus same-day deliveries between 30-60 minutes or 1-3 hours.

But when presented with a fixed grocery delivery fee of $9.95 for an order over $100, more than 70% of customers chose same-day delivery between 30-60 minutes and 1-3 hours, and less than 10% requested next day or later delivery.  

“If you are a grocery delivery customer—especially one using a third-party marketplace—it’s understandable that you may want to find ways to pay less, given inflation’s impact on purchasing power,” Mark Fairhurst, VP of marketing at Mercatus, said in a statement. “These incremental costs, including delivery fees, shopper service charges, fuel surcharges and even a very modest tip, are some of the last things customers view during the checkout stage, and they can add $20 or more to the bill.”

Said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, “These findings reinforce the idea that customers are more sensitive to the added service costs that they can plainly see. This makes sense, because accurately perceiving differences in product pricing online versus in-store, even with known value items, requires more effort on the customer’s part."

Costs are not the only issue some consumers have with grocery delivery, they also want to personally choose their own produce. Of the one in five U.S. households that used an online grocery delivery service, 62%  of consumers said, “I like to select my own fruits and vegetables.” Consumers over the age of 60 were considerably more concerned with picking their own produce (75%), versus younger shoppers (53%).

“Other aspects of this research reinforce that grocery customers shop regional grocers for different reasons than big-box mass retailers like Target or Walmart,” Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO of Mercatus, said in a statement. “Being more convenient is the main reason customers prefer grocery over a mass retailer, followed by the quality of the products they want to buy.”