Consumer Behavior in Online Grocery Shopping
Summary
Online grocery shopping has evolved from a niche convenience service to a mainstream retail channel, driven by advances in digital platforms, changing lifestyle patterns and heightened consumer expectations. Convenience remains a primary motivator, encompassing time savings, home delivery and flexible fulfilment options such as click-and-collect or unattended drop-off. Trust and perceived risk, especially regarding product quality and data security, continue to moderate adoption, while user experience factors—navigation, customisation and real-time updates—shape repeat usage. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst, accelerating adoption across age groups and income levels, although digital divides persist among older adults and lower-income consumers. Socio-cultural influences, including familiarity with technology and social norms around online shopping, interact with situational constraints such as health concerns or mobility issues, leading to segmented patterns of use. Logistic innovations, from route optimisation to temperature-controlled last-mile delivery, further impact satisfaction and loyalty. Looking ahead, the integration of predictive analytics, personalisation algorithms and sustainability metrics promises to deepen engagement, while retailers balance operational efficiency with consumer-centric service enhancements.
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Consumer Behavior in Online Grocery Shopping publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in consumer behavior in online grocery shopping across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
e-grocery: The practice of purchasing food and household products via internet-based retail platforms.
Perceived usefulness: A consumer’s belief that using an online grocery service enhances shopping efficiency or outcomes.
Consumer attitude: The overall positive or negative evaluation of online grocery shopping held by an individual.
Situational factor: An external or contextual variable—such as health, mobility or time pressure—that influences a consumer’s decision to shop online.
Cultural acceptance: The degree to which socio-cultural norms and values support the adoption of digital food retailing.
References
- The cultural acceptance of digital food shopping: conceptualisation, scale development and validation. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management (2023).
- Online grocery shopping before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analytical review. Telematics and Informatics (2022).
- Understanding the role of situational factors on online grocery shopping among older adults. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (2022).
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