Established E-Commerce Buyers More Valuable: Report
Even in a splintered marketplace, there is loyalty in the e-commerce channel. New research confirms that established online grocery customers collectively generate more than 3.5 times the revenue for conventional grocers than new customers.
According to data from the latest Brick Meets Click e-grocery benchmarking wave, established digital buyers spend 2.4 times more than new customers and order more frequently. During a four-week period last fall, 34% of online customers had used a grocer’s service for 60 or more weeks and accounted for 46% of that retailer’s online sales; in comparison, 23% of customers placed their first order with a grocer and comprised 13% of sales.
“Grocers need to build more meaningful engagement with their online customers,” observed David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click. “The market has contracted as expected, but the fact that nearly three-quarters of the customers that shopped online last year have lapsed and nearly two-thirds of the customers today are considered new to the grocer’s service simply underscores that those attracted to shopping this way are still in search of a service they deem acceptable compared to the alternatives.”
Habits are also becoming more entrenched within the online space. When given the option, fewer than 5% of online customers used both pickup and delivery from the same grocer during a 12-week period last year. The researchers concluded that if a grocer only offers one type of fulfillment method, it could be sending the 54% of shoppers who prefer delivery and the 42% who refer pickup to a competitor.
The three-part Brick Meets Click e-grocery benchmarking wave was sponsored by Cardlytics, Mercatus and Hussmann. The benchmarks are based on online transactional data across nearly 950 stores from 45 U.S. banners.
