Online grocery shopping activity projected to climb

Reflecting changed consumer behavior since the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly a quarter of U.S. e-grocery customers aim to step up their use of online food shopping, new research from Acosta reveals.

Twenty-three percent of online grocery users polled in the October Acosta Shopper Community Survey said they expect to do more e-grocery shopping within the next year, while 64% plan to shop online for groceries at their current level, according to Acosta’s “Growth of Online Grocery Shopping Shows No Signs of Slowing Down” report, released this week. Just 8% of respondents to grocery-shop online less often, and only 1% said they plan to stop completely.

The findings from Acosta, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based CPG sales and marketing firm, also show significant percentages of consumers among varying levels of online usage who plan to increase e-grocery shopping. Of those describing online as their primary grocery channel, 31% aim to boost their food shopping that way. Similarly, 27% of respondents who shop regularly online for groceries but still mostly do so in-store expect their online activity to increase. Among those food shopping online only occasionally, 10% reported they plan to do so more often.

Overall, 51% of online grocery shoppers surveyed said they started during the pandemic. Of that percentage, 20% shop for groceries online all or most of the time, 14% do food shopping online regularly but still primarily in stores, and 16% shop online for groceries occasionally.