In the grocery sector, with the digital shift comes the shopper’s slide, where we find consumers sliding between behaviors over time, based on changing inner ideas of preference and value.
For example, fascinating patterns are observable in how people shop for, pay for and receive their grocery orders now, with online ordering and curbside pickup appearing as increasingly popular choices, even though the majority of grocery shopping still happens in-store.
According to the PYMNTS study The Connected Consumer In The Digital Economy: Who Wants To Live In A Digital Connected Economy — And Why? we’re reminded that 91% of grocery buyers still shop for groceries in-store and pay there, but there are more factors to food.
Unlike other groups, digital-first grocery shoppers are more likely to buy their groceries online and pick them up curbside, “followed closely by ordering them online and having them dropped off at their doorsteps. Our research shows that 36% of consumers order their groceries online for curbside pickup, while 35% order them for at-home delivery.”
The study adds that “mobile apps, websites and aggregators play a particularly central role in the way connected consumers engage with restaurants. Not only do 56% of consumers now place orders through restaurants’ websites or mobile apps but 41% also use aggregators such as Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash.”
It also extends to non-grocery products. Finding that 18% of all shoppers make retail purchases online at least once per week (4% do so daily), The Connected Consumer In The Digital Economy found correlations in how items are received, too, as “buying online with curbside or in-store pickup is also common, with 34% and 33% of consumers doing so, respectively. Others use digital retail subscriptions or order online for same-day delivery via aggregators.”
Get the study: The Connected Consumer In The Digital Economy: Who Wants To Live In A Digital Connected Economy — And Why?
New findings from The Connected Consumer In The Digital Economy jibe with results from a previous and unrelated study on grocery shopping habits and preferences.
In What Consumers Expect From Their Grocery Shopping Experiences, produced in collaboration with ACI Worldwide, PYMNTS found, “Nearly one-third of U.S. consumers are now using digitally enabled channels like home delivery and curbside pickup to obtain at least some of their groceries.”
That study found that curbside pickup is nearly as popular as delivery, “as close to 20 percent employ each. Of these respondents, 76% cited ease and convenience as their prime reason for buying groceries online more, up 27% from October 2020, and 59% citing COVID-19 risk avoidance (an 8% decrease).”
Get the study: What Consumers Expect From Their Grocery Shopping Experiences
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