Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
The Waitrose.com report ‘How Britain Shops Online: Food and Drink Edition’ shows that 60% of people shop for groceries online more frequently since the pandemic, with 41% of people citing convenience as the reason, and one in five people saying that they hadn’t considered it before Covid-19.
The most marked increase in online grocery shopping is within the over-55 age group, last year 47% of over-55s did some of their food shopping online, this has now increased to 74%.
There has also been a big shift in the shopping behaviours of 35-44 year-olds – 32% now do at least one online shop each week, compared to 16% in 2019.
The research shows that 40% of people say they will shop for groceries online more in the long term, 19% of respondents say they will use a wider variety of online services post-lockdown, and 25% of people say they will do bigger grocery shops online in the future.
The poll also finds that 17% of people have been buying more wine online during lockdown. The study found that 22% of people like the fact they didn’t have to carry the wine themselves and 23% say there is a wider selection of wine online.
The Waitrose.com report reveals that 44% of people actively seek out products online with less packaging. In addition, 27% of online shoppers seek out British products.
James Bailey, Waitrose & Partners executive director, said: “Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there are few retailers that wouldn’t have predicted the continued growth of e-commerce relative to physical shops. But what would have previously been a gradual upward climb in demand has – with the outbreak of Covid-19 – turned into a trajectory more reminiscent of scaling Everest. One in four of us now do a grocery shop online at least once a week – double the amount in 2019.”
