Online Shopping Making Gains in Grocery

It’s a safe bet that when companies start investing in research to track consumer behavior, it’s because there’s ample anecdotal evidence to suggest there’s something to pay attention to. Enter Brick Meets Click, a retail strategic insights firm, with soon-to-be-released results from a survey of 22,000 grocery shoppers.

While the memory of Web Van still haunts us, and Amazon Fresh is newsworthy, new Brick Meets Clicks research indicates that 11 percent of shoppers report shopping for groceries online in the last 30 days. Further, more than one-third of those respondents used the online option three or more times during the past month. “Clearly, online has become the primary store for some,” says Steve Bishop, managing director of Brick Meets Click.

“The impact on sales may be relatively small at this point, but the impact on profits is potentially much larger,” says Bishop. “Sales lost to online competition come right off the top. These dollars typically generate three to four times more profit since they only require variable operating costs to deliver, and online grocery shopping appeals more strongly to a store’s less price sensitive/deal prone upper income customers.”

In a new report based on the research, Brick Meets Click explores the growth and impact of online grocery shopping as one of the six degrees of digital connection. E-mail, websites, texting, social networks and mobile devices are also covered in the report, which provides insight into how shoppers are using these connections and what it means for companies. Contact [email protected] for more information about the study and report.