Online shopping for food and beverages is on the rise, with 61% of global online consumers using the web to research their grocery shopping, with 44% intending to spend more online during the past 2 years, according to a study.
The research, from Nielsen, looked into consumers intent to buy food and beverages online. It found that more than one-quarter (26%) of global respondents reporting they planned to purchase food and beverage products by way of a device with Internet access, such as a computer, mobile phone or tablet, in the next three to six months.
Additionally, 61 percent of global respondents said they used the Internet for grocery shopping research.
The Nielsen Q1 2012 Global Survey surveyed more than 28,000 Internet respondents in 56 countries and found that product categories with growing global purchase intent via an online connected device include skin care and cosmetics, which rose three percentage points from 2010 to 25 percent; computer/game software, increased 18 percentage points to 29 percent; entertainment tickets grew 10 points to 30 percent; computer/game hardware increased six points to 25 percent; video/music (CD, VCD, DVD) rose five points to 23 percent; cars/motorcycles and accessories increased four points to 11 percent and apparel/accessories/shoes/jewelry grew one point to 37 percent.
One in five (20%) planned to purchase electronic books and digital newspaper and magazine subscriptions, a new category added to the survey in 2012.
“While non-consumer packaged goods (CPG) products such as clothing, books and consumer electronics report the highest penetration for digital shopping intentions, online influence for CPG products is clearly growing,” said John Burbank, president, Strategic Initiatives, Nielsen.
“Marketers need to determine which consumers are embracing digital for their grocery shopping needs so they can focus on the right shoppers with the right digital strategies to improve consumers’ online experience.”
Online Activities and Grocery Shopping
Nielsen’s survey finds that 61 percent of global respondents indicated using the Internet for grocery shopping research in the past month, such as checking prices or reading a consumer review. Forty-five percent used the Internet to get information about a grocery product, 43 percent searched for deals, 33 percent read a grocery retailer’s promotional circular/flyer, 33 percent looked for coupons, 26 percent browsed a manufacturer website, 18 percent provided feedback through social media and 11 percent used a digital shopping list.
“Online shopping delivers key attributes shoppers demand, such as convenience, value and choice,” said Burbank. “However, the Internet and more specifically e-commerce, will be successful to varying degrees of impact on consumer packaged goods depending on the product category. For these CPG categories, shoppers are more likely to adopt a multi-channel approach, where online shopping becomes a supplement to traditional brick-and-mortar retailing.”
Respondents from countries in Asia-Pacific said they used the Internet to conduct research (70%), compare prices (48%) and provide feedback through social media (26%).
Latin American respondents were the most active deal seekers (64%) and manufacturer website browsers (41%) while more North Americans looked for coupons online (43%) than respondents in any other region.
Time Spent Online For Grocery Shopping-Related Activities
According to Nielsen’s survey, nearly half (47%) of respondents reported spending at least 25 percent of their total research time for grocery shopping-related activities on a connected device. Twenty-three percent indicated spending at least half their research time on the Internet.
For those respondents who said they used the Internet for grocery shopping-related activities, more than half (63% – 91% depending on type of activity) of global respondents did so weekly or monthly. One-third of global respondents indicated using the Internet daily to conduct research (37%), provide feedback via social media (33%), look for deals (31%) and search for product information (31%).
“In a world where consumers have increasing influence on a brand’s perception through social media, ratings and reviews, authentic responses and generating advocacy is critical,” said Burbank. “Marketers need to encourage feedback and provide specialized experiences that increase engagement and build a two-way relationship with the brand.”
Methodology
The Nielsen Global Survey of Digital’s Influence on Grocery Shopping was conducted February 10–27, 2012 and polled more than 28,000 consumers in 56 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America. The sample has quotas based on age and sex for each country based on their Internet users, and is weighted to be representative of Internet consumers and has a maximum margin of error of ±0.6%. This Nielsen survey is based on the behavior of respondents with online access only. Internet penetration rates vary by country. Nielsen uses a minimum reporting standard of 60 percent Internet penetration or 10M online population for survey inclusion. The Nielsen Global Survey, which includes the Global Consumer Confidence Survey, was established in 2005.
Download the report here (registration required):
www.nielsen.com.
