Consumers Embrace Online Grocery Shopping Habits; Is This Where They’ll Buy Their Tea?

Acosta recently previewed results of its “Online Grocery Landscape Report,” a new shopper insights study on the attitudes and preferences surrounding online grocery shopping habits. Acosta is a global integrated sales and marketing services leader.

The new study contains some interesting insights for businesses, and the data is especially intriguing for tea businesses that currently sell or wish to sell their products via grocery stores.

The study addresses the new normal of consumer grocery shopping habits, and this means tea businesses might see more consumers discovering and purchasing their tea via online grocers in the future.

Conducted this summer through Acosta's proprietary Shopper Community, the research found that nearly 60 percent of those buying online groceries started in the past two years, and nearly one in five online grocery shoppers intend to do more of their grocery shopping online in the next year.

The new study shows that consumer grocery shopping behavior continues to evolve alongside the ongoing acceleration of traditional digital commerce and innovation across retail.

“More than half of American households are buying groceries online at least occasionally, compelling the need for retailers to provide more personalized and enhanced experiences around value, convenience and food discovery in order to increase their share of omnichannel shoppers,” said John Carroll, chief growth officer at Acosta. “Since most online grocery consumers shop the same retailers online and in-store, the brands and retailers that offer strong online and in-store shopping solutions are best positioned to win by nurturing even deeper consumer loyalty. And as wallets tighten due to inflation and shoppers do more pre-shop planning online, an omnichannel focus becomes even more critical.”

Online Grocery Landscape Report Key Findings

Insights from Acosta's proprietary Shopper Community illustrate the new normal in the online grocery space, along with evolving expectations and opportunities in the omni-channel marketplace.

The New Normal

  • Consistent with levels observed in fall 2021, half of U.S. shoppers are at least occasionally purchasing grocery items online.
  • More than half (57 percent) of online grocery shoppers say they stick with the retailers they shop in-store, thus providing omnichannel-focused retailers with a big advantage in building loyalty with consumers.
  • A significant majority of online pickup shoppers (seven in 10) go into the store when picking up an order, mainly to grab a forgotten item or to pick out something personally. This shopping behavior presents an opportunity to re-engage the shopper in store.

Evolving Expectations

  • Top online grocery retailers are getting high marks for shopper satisfaction, but shoppers still desire better ease of finding deals, product availability, and reasonable delivery/pickup fees.
  • Consumers are still experimenting and determining their preferred delivery fulfillment options, with only 57 percent using a single mode. Millennials are utilizing at-home delivery at nearly twice the rate of Baby Boomers.
  • Nearly one-third of online grocery shoppers use subscriptions, with pet needs and coffee/tea at the top of the list.

Shaping the Future

  • While 46 percent of shoppers utilize retailer websites to place orders, there is slow adoption to retailer apps with more than a quarter of respondents declaring that they currently do not use retailer apps.
  • Digital coupons are embraced by 80 percent of online shoppers, with younger shoppers more likely to look for them while they shop.
  • The balance between online and brick and mortar continues to evolve, with more online grocery shoppers preferring the in-store experience for discount opportunities and new product discovery.

Acosta conducted the research in June of 2022 through its proprietary Shopper Community with input from more than 750 U.S. online grocery shoppers across a range of age groups, behaviors and preferences. A summary of the report's key findings will be shard at Groceryshop, Sept. 19-22 in Las Vegas.

Groceryshop 2022 in Las Vegas is focused on the rise of eCommerce and the changing consumer behavior reshaping the industry. The Acosta leadership team will be onsite at Groceryshop, Booth No. 247 at the Mandalay Bay-located event, to provide further details about the "Online Grocery Landscape Report." Acosta will be joined by 345, a cloud-based platform changing how retailers and brands manage their businesses, and OeP, an Acosta-owned company with an end-to-end suite of solutions for brands to maximize their business on Amazon.

To learn more about Acosta, visit Acosta.com.

Plan to Attend or Participate in the
World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023

To learn about other key developments, trends, issues, hot topics and products within the global tea community, plan to attend the World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023 in Las Vegas, co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo. Visit WorldTeaExpo.com.

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