20% Of Grocery Shopping Predicted to Be Online By 2025

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

According to the Food Marketing Institute, 20% of grocery shopping could be online by 2025. This news isn’t likely to surprise anyone who’s already converted to the convenience of buying their cupboard staples over the internet. Whether it’s via the home delivery service of their favorite supermarket, or from retail giants like Amazon, ordering groceries is rapidly becoming the preferred choice for many people around the world.

However, this hasn’t always been the case. Online grocery shopping has been historically slow to gain traction, especially in comparison to sectors such as fashion, beauty, and books (all of which have seen meteoric rises in online sales, sadly often at the expense of local highstreets). So, why is the landscape changing now?

Read on as we discuss why 2025 could see 20% of grocery shopping online and what’s behind the change.

Why is online grocery shopping becoming more popular?

More people have access to technology

Since the advent of the smartphone, our handheld devices give us the power to do anything we want, wherever we happen to be. You can while away the hours on https://www.casino.com/ca or a range of other games. Check social media on your daily commute or your lunch break. Or even plan and book your next holiday. Indeed, online shopping allows you to find better deals by comparing several providers at your fingertips with no obligation, rather than visiting multiple travel agents and facing the hard-sell each time, for instance.

Increasingly, however, they’re also where we organize our households – and it’s not only millennials who are embracing this technology.

According to the Food Marketing Institute’s report, almost 40% of the greatest generation (otherwise known as the World War II generation, or those born before 1930) have recently bought a consumer-packaged goods product online. In fact, record numbers of senior citizens are now connected to the Internet, which is making online shopping more accessible than ever.

Because the ‘greatest generation’ is more likely to have mobility problems that can make it difficult for them to visit physical stores, online shopping offers them the freedom to shop for themselves, without having to rely on carers, friends, or family members. As more and more elderly people gain internet access, we can expect the number of online grocery shoppers to increase too.

Online shopping is more convenient

It’s often argued that online grocery shopping has failed to take off because food purchases are usually needs-based. If we run out of milk, for example, we want to be able to pick up a bottle from our nearest supermarket, not have to wait for a delivery slot in the next couple of days.

While it’s true that we can’t do our ad-hoc food shopping online, meal prepping is a trend that’s becoming increasingly popular – and online shopping can make it more convenient than ever. Not only does it mean we can stock our fridges from the comfort of our own homes, it also helps people to avoid the temptations of the supermarket aisles, which can persuade us to buy two-thirds more shopping than we actually need.

On top of all that, there’s the rise in faster delivery to meet consumers’ increased demand. Plenty of online retailers offer same-day delivery for non-perishable products. It’s likely that this could become the norm for online groceries too, as demand increases.

Online grocery shopping is more accessible, more convenient, and even safer than visiting a store. With businesses like Amazon leading the way, we’re set to see this e-commerce sector boom by the year 2025.