The Future of Online Grocery Shopping in the United ... - Kantar Retail

© 2012 Kantar Retail
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LOOKING FORWARD: Where Do We Go From Here?
What’s most interesting about this is not the nearly two-thirds that remains more status quo, but rather
identifying who and what is driving the switch among the other one-third. In particular, females are more open
to the idea of moving the majority of their grocery shopping online.
While the majority of shopping may still occur in the physical store, the shift of a significant share of the
billions of dollars of grocery purchasing to online shopping cannot be overlooked in the quest to grow sales
and share.
2. New Value Proposition and Offering Incentives to Trial Needed to Overcome Today’s Barriers
The fundamental reason online grocery remains nascent in the United States is two-fold:
1. Retailer reluctance based on cost of the last mile, which is the driver of the “convenience premium” that
shoppers must pay for online delivery and leads to price being the top barrier for shoppers.
2. Getting shoppers to trial the service in order to dispel some of the other barriers, which are primarily
based on misconceptions.
Kantar Retail anticipates that retailer reluctance to changing their model because of not seeing an alternative
to charging delivery fees will change dramatically in the next 12 to 18 months—primarily with the evolution of
“click & collect” models. To date, arguments against the potential for success of online grocery retailing in the
United States have been based on a narrow interpretation about fulfillment that is limited to home delivery.
While shoppers still rate home delivery as the most convenient fulfillment model, other models have potential
to win over shoppers (Figure 19). Shoppers agree that the convenience of online ordering isn’t limited to home
delivery; there are other fulfillment options that are also viewed as very or somewhat convenient. Better than
three-quarters of shoppers who do not currently buy groceries online admit that it would be convenient to
have their groceries delivered to their home or to pick up their grocery order at the store without having to
actually go into the store.
Click & Collect is the future of online grocery shopping in the United States. It is already transforming other
markets around the world as retailers recognize that the problem with online grocery isn’t so much the
“click” part of the shopping and ordering process, it’s the “collect” fulfillment of the order that is economically
challenging—particularly when it means home delivery. Two retailers currently advancing the development of
Click & Collect models operate in France: Auchan and LeClerc are leading a rollout of “drive” formats, where
shoppers go to a dedicated location, either stand-alone or attached to a store, to “collect” their order.
Kantar Retail anticipates that retailer reluctance
to changing their model because of not seeing an
alternative to charging delivery fees will change
dramatically in the next 12 to 18 months—primarily
with the evolution of “click & collect” models.