I do a lot of online grocery shopping. I’m definitely not the only one. About one third of shoppers get at least some of their groceries online. Of course, it takes some getting used to. I personally never buy produce online after several bad experiences with doing so. (The exception is my weekly Farm Fresh delivery, which I’m able to alter online.)
If you’re new to online grocery shopping, then you might forget a key component of your usual grocery shopping: coupons. It’s as important as ever, even when shopping online, so make sure that you don’t forget.
More and More People Are Online Grocery Shopping
Progressive Grocer, reporting on research from the 2K19 Valassis Coupon Intelligence Report, says that online shopping gains in popularity each year. They have seen a recent 44% increase in the number of people shopping for food online. People love the convenience of it. Additional reasons that people enjoy grocery shopping online include:
- It’s not just convenient but also saves times.
- 65% find it easier than shopping in a store.
- There are more products available online than you could ever find in one grocery store.
- More than half say it is cheaper than shopping in their local store.
However, like I have, people find it difficult to shop for produce online. 64% of those surveyed said that they want to be able to touch and smell their produce. They don’t like that online shopping doesn’t appeal to their senses in that way. Moreover, nearly the same amount (62%) don’t like the idea of someone else picking out their produce for them.
Who Shops for Groceries Online?
If you don’t already shop for groceries online, then you may wonder who these customers are. They are more likely than not to be:
- Between ages 18-44, particularly the Millennial generation
- Male
- With an average household income of $80,900
Interesting Stats About Using Coupons Online
The research provided some very interesting, and seemingly conradictory, statistics when it comes to using coupons for online grocery shopping. On one hand, 68% of those people who shop online for grocery said that coupons / discounts are the primary factor in their decision. In fact, 65% of online grocery shoppers always or almost always use coupons, as compared to only 45% of regular grocery shoppers.
On the other hand, 62% of those surveyed report that it was frustrating when they couldn’t use coupons. While that seems contradictory at first glance, it actually isn’t. People increasingly want to buy their groceries online. They want to be able to use coupons to do so. If they can use coupons, then they are happy and will keep getting froceries online. On the other hand, since it’s such an important factor in the online shopping process, they find it most irritating when they can’t easily use online grocery coupons.
In fact, about 25% of people avoid shopping online because they aren’t sure how to get coupons or “in-store” deals when doing os. Even more (36%) would prefer to use coupons but only if they could use them widely across multiple stores including online grocery stores. In other words, people want to save money with coupons but they want it to be convenient to do so.
Those who do understand how to use coupons online, though, make it a priority to do so. Six out of ten online grocery shoppers decide where to shop online by looking at online ads to find the lowest prices. They also look at printed ads. This is significantly more than the number of in-store grocery shoppers who look at either of those types of coupons. Therefore, if you love couponing, then you might want to make sure that you’re not missing out on this aspect of saving money when grocery shopping.
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