Online Grocery Still Rare in the U.S.

The vast majority of Americans say they never order groceries online, according to a new poll from Gallup.

Eighty-one percent of the U.S. consumers surveyed by Gallup in July said they never order groceries online, while 11 percent said they do so at least once a month. Similarly, 88 percent of U.S. adults said they never order meal kits containing fresh foods online, while 7 percent said they do so at least once a month.

At least seven in 10 U.S. adults told Gallup they shop for groceries in person at a grocery store, eat meals at restaurants, and order food for take-out or delivery.

Gallup first asked about ordering groceries online in 2017, and the results are essentially unchanged since then. At that time, 84 percent said they never order groceries online, and 9 percent did so at least once a month.

According to Gallup, online grocery shopping is more common among parents and upper-income adults — 19 percent of those with children under age 18 order groceries online at least monthly, as do 18 percent of those with annual household incomes of $100,000 or greater.

Americans between the ages of 30 and 49 — those most likely to have young children — are also among the subgroups most inclined to get groceries via the Internet.

Meanwhile, in-person grocery shopping shows no obvious signs of declining, with the percentages this year similar to those from 2017 and 2018. In-store grocery shopping is by far the most common way Americans get food, with 83 percent saying they shop at grocery stores at least once a week, including 37 percent who do so more than once a week.

The survey results are from Gallup's annual Consumption Habits survey, conducted July 1-12.