Online Grocery Shopping: My First Experience!

This post is different from what we usually write about, since it’s not directly about data and analysis.   Believe it or not…I did my grocery shopping online for the first time ever back in July and saw this as an opportunity to share my view on how the online shopping experience compares to shopping in person in a store.  Reader caveat:  Being of a “certain age,” I prefer to shop in stores for everything, not just groceries.  Even after getting rid of my car 4 years ago, I did not switch to ordering groceries online and getting them delivered.  (Plus I may be one of the last people not to have an Amazon Prime membership!)

Online Grocery Shopping Snapshot

Before I get into my experience, let’s take a quick look at some key facts about online grocery shopping in the U.S.  Keep in mind that it is not easy to get an exact picture of what’s really happening, because there’s a lot of [inconsistent] information out there about online shopping, depending on the source.  Some sources track only Food & Beverage products while others cover all CPG/FMCG, which includes personal care products and household care/cleaning products.  When talking about “online grocery shopping,” keep in mind that the order is placed online but can either be delivered or picked up.  Two other terms for order online and pick up are “click & collect” and BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick up In-Store).

Here are some common themes that are generally out there:

• Sales of Grocery products in total are up for Online (pick-up or delivery) and across all channels, due to all/most meals being made and eaten at home. So…looking at % change is not as useful, in my opinion.  That’s why I like to see the next thing on this list.
• Share of total Grocery sales of the Online channel has increased, but maybe not as much you might guess. Online accounted for 12.7% of dollar sales pre-COVID (8 weeks ending 2/23/20) and this increased to 15.6% post-COVID (8 weeks ending 5/17/20), for an increase of 2.9 share points.  And the other channel with a share gain?  Brick & mortar Grocery – going from 31.2% of sales pre-COVID to 32.8% post-COVID.  Source:  IRI
• More people have used Online grocery shopping since the pandemic began, but still not most shoppers. Just over 1 in 6 shoppers (17.7%) used Online grocery delivery or pick-up in June, up from 15.3% in March but way up from 6.2% in August of 2019.  It will be interesting to see how many people continue to use the channel once it is really safe to return to stores.   I think the specific online experience also has an influence on a shopper’s future intentions.  Source:  Brick Meets Click
• Trends in purchase dynamics Online are different than in the brick and mortar channels. Online has seen a slight increase in frequency (# of trips) but consistent basket sizes to pre-COVID levels while Grocery (and other B&M) are seeing fewer trips but bigger baskets.  Source:  Numerator

I will most likely not be doing more online grocery shopping as long as I can still go to stores in person.  Everyone considers trade-offs (consciously or not) between time, money and experience, including me.  But it is good to know the Online option is available if necessary.  Since I live in a big city and do not own a car, I can imagine some future online “trips” to stock up on non-food times.

I tried 3 different retailers – two Grocery/Food (Mariano’s and Jewel) and one Mass Merchandiser (Target).  These “visits” happened during 3 successive weeks in mid-late July.  Here’s an overview of their owners, online partners and the type of [virtual] trip that I had with each:

In terms of how online shopping is similar to and different from shopping in person, let’s look at 3 broad categories:      

• Filling my virtual cart/finding what I need
• Pricing and Promotions
• Delivery

Robin’s Brick and Mortar Shopping Process

When I go shopping in a store, I usually have a list (sometimes on paper – how retro!, sometimes on my phone).  I tend to jot down reminders of broad categories needed like fruit, cereal, yogurt, etc.  I do have favorite brands for many things, but can be swayed by a good sale price or occasional display.  Once I’m in the store I’ll see what’s on sale (based on the shelf-talkers) and sometimes notice if there’s something new I’d like to try.  For products I’m not that familiar with I will look at the nutritional label (but admittedly not always!).  Otherwise, I know what I like (brand, flavor, size) and where to find it on the shelf.  You may notice that I did not mention coupons or retailer-specific feature ads, which are of less importance to me when shopping.

Finding Products

I realize that filling my virtual cart for the first time is not as easy as it would be on future trips, when I can pull up a previous and just add or subtract items from that.  On all 3 platforms, when searching for products online, you can type in some key words in a search box, drill down starting at a high-level department (produce, dairy, frozen, etc.) or use a combination of those.

I found myself using a hybrid approach, choosing a department and then sometimes drilling down further on category or brand.  On Jewel’s site you can also sort on price.  It was harder for me to see new products, especially in categories I was not already looking for.  I’m not sure how this works between retailers and manufacturers, but there is probably some fee involved for new items to get a call-out or be listed at the top of a search.  Reading labels is easy…once you know how to find them!  Sometimes I had to scroll way down, beyond where it looks like the page for the product ends.  I only found this out after speaking with a customer service rep about another issue (see Delivery below).  Another handy thing would be the ability to search by nutritionals.  Some sites allow you to filter on things like “Low Sodium” or “Gluten Free” but there are many more attributes about a product.  Read about product attributes here to find out how those can be used in analysis.

What happens when an item you order is not available?  When shopping in person, it’s pretty much automatic as to what you do.  If the exact product you want is not there you can get a different size or flavor or brand.  Or maybe you really want that item so you don’t buy anything and get it next time you’re in that store, or get it at another store.  Well…it’s interesting to see how the different retailers handle the “product not available” situation.  They all have a substitution policy, with defaults and the ability to override the default.  It’s not simple to find what product would be substituted if an item is not available, but once you find that you can see how they would substitute.  From what I could tell, first choice is to get the same thing but in a different size – same brand, same flavor, etc.  You could change that, though, to substitute a similar item but different brand.  I did not like that since sometimes I chose a particular brand because of the price and a more expensive item was sent instead.  A nice feature with Instacart is that the shopper can contact you (via text) while they are in the store shopping to confirm any substitute items.  One substitution fail I experienced was receiving a different flavor of ice cream than what I ordered.  For me at least, that’s a category where flavor is very important!

Pricing and Promotions

The way pricing and promotion works online really varies by retailer.  Or, rather, by retailer owner.  Jewel is part of Albertsons Co. and Mariano’s is owned by Kroger Corp.  I’m pretty sure that all the banners with the same owner have the same online interface and pricing and promotion policies.

Delivery Fee

• May be (but not always) free if you are a “member,” of either the retailer’s loyalty club or of Instacart
• Sometimes free delivery is included if you have a minimum order amount
• Sometimes the delivery fee increases as the delivery window narrows. For example, fee is $3.95 for a 4-hour window but $9.95 for a 1-hour window.
• For many shoppers, the fees are pretty reasonable when you consider the value of their own time, cost of gas, etc.

Discounts

Maybe it’s just me but, I think it’s easier to see “what’s on sale” in the store – look for the shelf talkers!

Online you see different things relating to price on different retailer’s sites – some combination of regular price, discounted price, amount of discount, unit price (price per ounce, for example).  Shoppers get used to seeing pricing information at their usual stores and websites but as a first-time online shopper I wanted to see all 4 of those.

Delivery

For me, this was really the big differentiator between the retailers!  Despite some differences in the details, those paled in comparison to the differences in the delivery experience.  Target (via Instacart) wins this category, hands down!  The table below summarizes how all 3 retailers “performed” on delivery:

What’s been your experience shopping for groceries online?  Is it part of your routine or an occasional thing?  Let us know in the comments below.  Subscribe to CPG Data Tip Sheet to get future posts delivered to your email in-box. We publish articles once a month (or even less frequently). We will not share your email address with anyone.