The latest grocery shopping survey from Brick Meets Click and Mercatus found that online sales rose to $9.3 billion in January as nearly 70 million households placed orders.
The number of households buying online was up 16% compared to November, according to a news release. Among monthly active users, 78% used either delivery or pick-up, a considerably larger group than did so in November (64%). The usage rate of ship-to-home, meanwhile, dropped from 56% to 46%.
While the usage statistics climbed, however, satisfaction metrics fell. In November, 83% of monthly active users reported they were extremely or very likely to use the same online grocery service again within the next 30 days; that number was a record high. In January, that number was much lower, at 56%.
Some of the disparity can be attributed to the changing customer mix as more people buy groceries online; first-time users of pickup and delivery are more likely to report that they don’t intend to use the services again in the near future, while repeat users of pickup and delivery are more likely to report they will use those services again soon.
The share of first-time online grocery shoppers was up in January, but retail conditions are also playing a significant role, according to Brick Meets Click and Mercatus.
“Even though many grocers remain capacity-constrained, especially with pickup, others are growing market share as they staff up or expand pickup to a larger store base,” David Bishop, partner in Brick Meets Click, said in the release. “While throwing more labor at the issue isn’t ideal, this, along with improving assembling productivities via enhanced pick and pack practices, is vital to remaining competitive in the near term and not inadvertently giving your customer a reason to shop elsewhere.”
In January, even the satisfaction scores among repeat online grocery shoppers were markedly lower than in November.
“It’s clear from the data that retailers will face a challenge in holding on to a lot of online shoppers as experience is not meeting expectations,” Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO of Mercatus, said in the release. “To remain competitive with mass merchandisers, regional grocers need to enhance the digital shopping experience so as not to give their customers a reason to spend their money elsewhere. Grocers have to look at where they can improve operationally, how they can efficiently scale to meet online demand, and which services will be most effective at revenue protection going forward.”