The Amazon–Whole Foods acquisition and recent Albertsons–Plated deal indicate a convergence in the brick-and-mortar and online grocery spaces. That’s also backed up by a report from Acosta showing that as many as 28% of U.S. grocery shoppers now prefer to purchase groceries online regularly.
Who exactly are these e-Commerce grocery shoppers?
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23% of older Millennials (ages 30 to 34), and 14% of younger GenXers (ages 35 to 39) are considered frequent CPG e-Commerce shoppers — meaning they purchase groceries online an average of 50% or more of the time;
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70% of frequent e-Commerce grocery shoppers have children;
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68% of frequent e-Commerce grocery shoppers in urban areas have taken advantage of pure play/direct-to-home grocery services, while 67% have used third-party delivery, versus 52% and 17% of those in suburban areas, respectively; and
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Natural foods shoppers (53%) and drugstore shoppers (48%) are most likely to purchase groceries online. The pet food category has seen the most significant growth in online sales over the past year at nearly 73%, while experiencing a 1% decrease in brick-and-mortar sales.
Even among those classified as infrequent e-Commerce grocery shoppers, meaning they purchase groceries online less than half the time, there is strong interest in expanding their use of these services: 59% of this group are somewhat to extremely likely to try pure play within the next year, and 35% are somewhat to extremely likely to try click-and-collect programs in that same time frame.
97% Of CPG Spend Remains In Brick-And-Mortar Stores
While online sales have grown — specifically in dry-goods categories, nonfoods and health and beauty care — brick-and-mortar retail continues to be the preferred channel when shoppers want to personally select their produce and when they seek fresh meats, cheeses and other chilled categories. In fact, 97% of all CPG dollars are still being spent in brick-and-mortar retail stores, according to the report.
Grocery purchases remain concentrated in grocery retailers (58%) and mass retailers (29%), with 27% of Millennial e-Commerce grocery shoppers saying that sampling goods is a reason to shop in person.
