USDA Shares Its Take on Online Grocery Habits
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is out with a new report on online grocery shopping. Compiled by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), the paper affirms the marketplace shift in purchasing groceries digitally in the wake of the pandemic that reshaped many behaviors.
According to ERS, the main reason for buying through the digital channel is to save time. More than 40% of consumers cited time constraints when opting for this method, while just 10.6% cited convenience. Just over 7% of shoppers reported that a lack of access, such as transportation limitations or childcare issues, spurred them to buy groceries online.
[RELATED: The Big Picture of DoorDash Delivery]
On the flip side, researchers also sought to determine any barriers to online grocery shopping. Of those who don’t engage digitally, 47.4% said they like to be able to see and touch products in person. A much lower cohort said they don’t have access to technology to place orders (5.2%) or don’t want to pay higher prices online (4.3%).
As with other research studies, the ERS report found some demographic differences in the propensity to shop online for food and other essentials. Compared to a base group of shoppers between the ages of 15 and 24, those over the age of 55 were 16% less likely to embrace e-grocery. “This difference was quite large relative to the overall online grocery shopping prevalence rate of 19.3%. The difference was 83% (16.2% ÷ 19.3%),” the researchers wrote.
Men were four percentage points less likely than women to report buying groceries online. The report revealed no “statistically significant” differences in the likelihood of digital grocery shopping between non-Hispanic white shoppers and Hispanic shoppers, but people who identify as non-Hispanic Black and part of another non-Hispanic race were four percentage points and six percentage points less likely to report buying groceries online, respectively.
The report concluded by sharing the implications as online grocery shopping has increased. The researchers noted, for example, that online shopping can boost access to healthy food and therefore affect food and nutrition security.
The full “Who Shops for Groceries Online?” report is available online.
