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Study: Grocery shopping becomes omnichannel affair for most consumers
More than half now buy groceries online along with making their regular in-store purchases, Acosta Group reports.
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Among click-and-collect grocery customers, 80% enter the store to buy other items when picking up their online orders, Acosta found. / Photo: Shutterstock
U.S. consumers have settled into an omnichannel mode for grocery shopping, with most making online purchases in addition to their routine store trips, new research from Acosta Group showed.
Of 1,308 grocery customers polled from the Acosta Group Shopper Community, which encompasses over 40,000 demographically diverse shoppers nationwide, 55% buy their groceries online at least some of the time. These consumers still shop primarily in-store for their groceries but also are regular online grocery shoppers, the Jacksonville, Florida-based retail and brand marketing firm said Tuesday.
Nearly half (49%) of online shoppers start at a retailer’s website or mobile app with their lists to place an order, Acosta Group reported. Also, 85% of online grocery consumers—90% of higher-income customers—said they use digital coupons.
A key finding by Acosta Group revealed that 80% of click-and-collect grocery customers enter the store when picking up their orders, either to buy item they forgot to include in their online purchase or to select specific items personally. That’s a 10% increase from the 2022 study, Acosta Group said, and indicates the melding of the online and in-store experiences.
“We learned in this year’s study that frequent online grocery shoppers are up to 50% more likely to purchase perishables such as breads and pastries, dairy, produce and frozen for pickup or delivery, which we attribute to a higher level of trust and familiarity with the fulfillment processes,” Kathy Risch, senior vice president of consumer insights and trends at Acosta Group, said in a statement.
Younger online grocery customers opt more for delivery among fulfillment options versus older shoppers. / Photo: Shutterstock
By retail channel, online grocery customers using store/curbside pickup most frequently shop at mass merchants, with 68% saying they do so in Acosta Group’s study. That was followed by online-only retailers like Amazon (55%), supermarkets (55%) and warehouse clubs (33%).
“We’ve seen that, post-pandemic, consumers have returned to in-store shopping, and they want a seamless omnichannel experience where all items online are available at the same price as in store, and all items in-store are available for pickup and delivery,” according to Risch.
Though consumers rank convenience highly in terms of why they shop for groceries online, 63% these shoppers consistently use one fulfillment method, either pickup or delivery, Acosta Group found.
Younger online grocery shoppers are heavy users of both pickup and delivery, and they use the latter two times more than Baby Boomers. Sixty percent of Millennials and 50% of Gen Z use click-and-collect service, while 62% of Millennials and 65% of Gen Z opt for delivery.
Preferred delivery providers are led by Instacart and Walmart (via its Walmart membership), followed by Amazon Prime, DoorDash and Uber Eats, with all of those services achieving high satisfaction levels, Acosta Group added.
“Delivery shoppers often want the items fast,” Risch explained. “Thirty-eight percent are using delivery options of three hours or less, and men are far more willing to pay a higher fee for speed.” Delivery time frames are especially important to shoppers with limited flexibility who live in urban areas, have children or work outside the home, she noted.
Among other notable findings in Acosta Group’s study, online grocery shoppers—namely Millennials—exhibit a high propensity to buy and try new items and make impulse purchases. Younger customers also show a greater affinity for online foodservice: Three in four Gen Z and Millennials are placing small orders for a single meal or recipe, which Acosta Group said reflects comfort with the use and cost of delivery services.
Overall, 84% of online grocery customers reported high satisfaction with the online grocery shopping experience.
“Today’s online grocery shoppers are younger and digitally savvy and are using online grocery shopping in new ways,” commented John Carroll, president of Acosta Group digital commerce and advanced analytics. “Their expectations are set for convenience and accuracy, as well as an integrated experience across the digital and physical shelf. Future online grocery sales growth will come primarily from existing buyers versus new buyers, so building trust through exceptional service, inspirational digital shelf content and personalized offers will be key.”
