Leading creative, retail and shopper marketing agency Savvy, has announced the findings of its largest ever shopper insight project.
The report examining online grocery shopper trends not only questioned 1,000+ online shoppers about their purchasing habits and attitudes, but also involved a programme of accompanied shops, each fully eye tracked and supported with in-depth interviews.
The report findings indicate that the online grocery market is amidst a period of substantial change. As a result Savvy expects to witness a new wave of market growth over the next few years shifting the way shoppers behave, not only online, but instore too.
Key findings
Why do we shop online?
74 percent of respondents cited convenience as their primary motivation to shop for groceries online, up from 55 percent in 2012.
19 percent stated it was for budgeting reasons.
Three percent said it was to access larger ranges and four percent for other reasons.
How often do we shop online?
39 percent of shoppers shop for groceries online at least once every three months.
Which online retailers do we use?
Tesco.com proved the most popular with 62 percent of respondents having used the shopping platform in the past 12 months.
In second place, 41 percent had used Asda.com and the Sainsbury.co.uk platform attracted 34 percent of respondents.
Ocado.com had been used by 12 percent whilst Morrisons.com and Waitrose.com had both been used by ten percent each.
How do online grocery shoppers behave?
Preparation – 59 percent write a list before shopping
Location – 66 percent carry out their shopping from the living room, 20 percent from the kitchen and even six percent from the bedroom.
Dual screening – 23 percent watch television whilst shopping.
Social media – 73 percent of these shoppers use Facebook
Mobile – 25 percent prefer to shop using a smartphone or tablet.
53 percent of these shoppers add to their baskets over multiple sessions too.
What do online grocery shoppers want moving forwards?
A significant 61 percent of these shoppers want to receive coupons direct to their phones and they would like to see apps replace their loyalty cards (56 percent).
59 percent would like to see highly targeted suggestions of products they might like as they shop online.
The ability to add the ingredients of a recipe to their online shopping basket from any recipe site was appealing to 51 percent of respondents.
50 percent said they’d like to see high quality video content on a food and grocery retailers website – such as recipes.
An app to get additional product information about the products they are thinking of buying was of interest to 47 percent.
Alastair Lockhart, Insight Director at Savvy said: “While the industry typically defines convenience as a format of store, from the shoppers’ perspective convenience is about making their lives easier. To them it is of paramount importance, irrespective of retailer, channel and format. This point is strikingly reinforced by the findings of our research, highlighting that online plays a crucial role in a retailers’ ability to deliver a broader convenience strategy.
“In part this shift towards convenience can be explained by some improvement of the economy, but there are other significant factors at play. First we see a macro long-term trend towards convenience seeking, as shoppers try to manage their increasingly busy lives. Convenience has never been so important to shoppers.
“Second, online shopping has become more convenient itself. Consider how smartphones and tablets allow shoppers to access their online shopping baskets at any time without the need to log on. Not only can shoppers do this from anywhere in their home, but from any location when it suits them. Also, we see initiatives like click and collect attracting new shoppers into online grocery retailing.
“The growing use of smart devices also has important implications for brands and retailers alike. No longer do shopper sit down to their whole shop in one go – increasingly they’re adding to their baskets bit by bit, taking inspiration from the real world around them, whether that be a TV ad, a recommendation from a friend or noticing something in the cupboard is running out.
“Above-the-line advertising, for example, is no longer only about building brands, it can be an important call to action, prompting shoppers to buy. The appetite from online grocery shoppers – for more engagement and expansion of their use of these websites is already here. The onus is now on the retailers to deliver.”
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