Online grocery shopping nears majority stake in market

Monday, May 16, 2016 - 10:08 by Simon Crisp

Almost half of people now carry out their grocery shopping online, according to the latest report from Mintel.

This represents a 30 per cent year on year increase for this part of the retail market, with analysts expecting Brits to spend £9.8 billion on their weekly food shop using home delivery services this year.

The under-35s are most likely to buy groceries online which is, no doubt, why Amazon and other major retailers are starting to compete for a slice of this growing marketplace.

Traditional supermarkets like Tesco are fighting back by introducing offers and incentives which encourage people to use their sites to places orders via safe shopping online, the Mirror reports. This includes cutting delivery costs and also embracing click and collect delivery as a way of encouraging people to visit real world stores, even if they use the internet to make the initial purchase.

Almost two thirds of those questioned in the report said that convenience was the biggest motivating factor behind their decision to shop for groceries online more regularly. This makes it even more important for retailers to offer compellingly simple e-commerce sites, outweighing low prices.

As well as facing competition from the internet, the supermarkets are having to adapt to the fact that consumer habits are shifting away from carrying out larger shopping trips once every week or two. Regular trips to smaller outlets are preferred, especially as the number of people living in urban areas increases.

The changes to the UK’s retail landscape are occurring rapidly, with consumers having more choice than ever before when it comes to how and when they shop, not only for groceries but also for every other conceivable product and service that can be offered by retailers.