Online grocery shopping boom as one in four shop from the sofa: Sales expected to hit £15bn by 2020 as customers turn away from the supermarkets

• Figures predict 73 per cent increase in online shopping for groceries in just five years
• The UK is now expected to enter a new era where millions of Briton buy their groceries without ever visiting a supermarket
• Amazon has signalled plans to get involved in home delivery of fresh food across the country 
• The US web giant has already signed a deal with Morrisons to distribute fre

Supermarkets face a new threat with figures predicting a 73 per cent increase in online shopping for groceries in just five years.

The idea of families spending their weekend trailing around a vast supermarket has already fallen out of favour with a switch to convenience stores.

But, the UK is now expected to enter a new era where millions of Briton buy their groceries without ever visiting a supermarket.

Amazon has signalled plans to get involved in home delivery of fresh food across the country, which will speed the transition.

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The UK is now expected to enter a new era where millions of Briton buy their groceries without ever visiting a supermarket (file photo)

The US web giant has already signed a deal with Morrisons to distribute fresh food.

British consumers have embraced internet shopping more quickly than any other nation in the world. Average spending per head is greater than any other nation, including the Americans.

A study by retail analysts Mintel suggests online grocery sales were £8.6billion last year. And it is predicting they will soar 73 per cent to reach £15billion by 2020.

A Mintel survey found that almost half of shoppers – 43per cent – are doing some of their grocery shopping, typically heavy things like tins, washing powder and nappies, online.

And almost one in four people – 23 per cent – say they are already doing most or all of their food and cleaning product purchases on the web.

The trend is clear with one in five of young adults aged 25-34 now doing all of their grocery shopping online.

Mintel said: 'The days of heading to the supermarket are over for some Brits as they trade trolleys for home delivery.'

The fact that people can shop for groceries from their sofa or even sitting in bed before going to sleep is a key attraction.

People say it also helps them to budget more carefully because they are not wooed into making impulse purchases by offers and deals.

It said: 'The main reason consumers cite for shopping online more is convenience, with 60per cent of Brits who are shopping more online doing so because it is more convenient than visiting stores.

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'The days of heading to the supermarket are over for some Brits as they trade trolleys for home delivery,' said retail analysts Mintel (file photo)

'This is followed by the fact that online shopping allows consumers to keep better track of how much they're spending and the wider variety of delivery slots available.'

Retail analyst at Mintel, Nick Carroll, said: 'The online grocery market continues to grow in double digits, but remains small in the context of the wider grocery market.

'However, the shift away from superstores to more convenient shopping channels is certainly benefiting the market with the majority of consumers now doing some grocery shopping online and almost a third saying that they now shop online more than a year ago.

'The majority of online shoppers still mix online shopping with store-based shopping, but consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable shopping at online-only retailers with growth outpacing the total market.'

However, Mintel found there are some irritations with online grocery shopping. Chief among them is that people lose control of buying fruit and vegetables and they may be landed with inferior produce that is close to its use by date.

At the same time, some people are put off by delivery charges.

One in ten people said they are shopping less online than a year ago. Of these, four in ten said it was because of a lack of control when choosing fresh food and one in four pointed to fees.

Some people who have used web grocers in the past have switched to cheap discount chains, which have very limited online sales services.

Mr Carroll said web grocers need to tap into a demand for convenience, top-up shopping, rather than one big weekly shop.

'As we see Brits turning away from the main weekly shop and towards fluid, when-needed shopping, it is important for online grocery retailers to find a way to engage with these consumers,' he said.

'A wider proliferation of delivery passes may be one way in which retailers can do so as it makes more frequent online grocery shops viable.'