Consumers buy groceries online for convenience above all else

Friday, June 12, 2015 - 08:44 by Sarah Collinson

A survey of British consumers by analysts at Savvy has revealed that the main motivating factor behind people buying their groceries online is convenience, according to Internet Retailing.

Three quarters of respondents cited the ease of ordering online as being the biggest benefit of the whole process. And, interestingly, the report reveals that the convenience of grocery delivery services is more important in 2015 than it was in 2012, when just 55 per cent of consumers said it was a priority.

Just under a fifth said that price is important, with only three per cent stating that they shopped for groceries online because it gave them access to a wider range of products than if they visited a bricks and mortar store.

Report spokesperson, Alastair Lockhart, said that even with supermarkets making the in-store experience more convenient, customers are still content to carry out safe shopping online, if it means that they do not need to expend as much effort to get the weekly food order through the front door.

Lockhart did point to economic growth in the UK, meaning that this sector of the retail market is no longer so geared towards price. He also said that the availability of m-commerce solutions, which allow customers to place orders from smartphones and tablets, is making it even easier to order groceries without visiting a store at all.

Tesco seems to be winning the war for online dominance, with 62 per cent of respondents stating that they had placed an order with this firm in the past year. Asda was in second place, with 41 per cent and Sainsbury’s came a close third, with 34 per cent.

This also indicates that people are willing to switch between different retailers depending on the offers that are available, rather than remaining loyal to a single firm.