Is digital grocery shopping ready for takeoff?

By Tom Ryan

MAY 11, 2015

Grocery shoppers are ready for a more involved digital experience than many supermarkets are promoting or prepared to deliver, according to a global survey by Nielsen.

The survey of 30,000 online consumers in 60 countries found that a quarter already order grocery products online for home delivery and 55 percent are willing to use such services in the future. Regarding "click and collect," 12 percent pick up at a store or other location, another 12 percent use drive-thru, and 10 percent curbside pickup. In the future, 57 percent say they will be willing to use online options for in-store pickup, 55 percent for drive-thru and 52 percent for curbside pickup.

In other delivery options, 14 percent have used an automatic online subscription service in which orders are routinely replenished at a specified frequency, and 54 percent are willing to do so in the future. Thirteen percent are already using a virtual store, such as kiosks in subway stations, and 58 percent are willing use them when they become available.

Photo: RetailWire

In other areas of the digital experience for grocery shopping:

• Eighteen percent use online or mobile coupons with about 65 percent willing to use them in the future;
• Fifteen percent use mobile shopping lists with 64 percent willing to use them in the future;
• Fourteen have downloaded a retailer/loyalty program app on a mobile phone to receive information or offers and 63 percent are willing to use one when available;
• Twelve percent log in to store Wi-Fi to receive information or offers with 66 percent willing to do so in the future;
• Eleven percent scan QR codes to access more information with 65 percent open to doing so in the future.

Thirty percent of Millennials (ages 21-34) and 28 percent of Generation Z (15-20) respondents say they are ordering groceries online for home delivery, compared with 22 percent of Generation X (35-49), 17 percent of Baby Boomers (50-64) and nine percent of Silent Generation (65+) respondents. Younger respondents are also the most willing to use all of the e-commerce options (home delivery, in-store pickup, drive-through pickup, curbside pickup, virtual supermarket and automatic subscription) in the future.

"Time-starved consumers want to use technology to make shopping faster, easier and more efficient," said Patrick Dodd, president, global retailer vertical, Nielsen. "As we've seen with self-checkout, one of the more mature flexible retailing options included in the survey, as more retailers incorporate these options in their in-store and online offerings, adoption rates will likely increase."