Chicory, the leading contextual commerce platform, today released findings from its Omnichannel Grocery Shopper survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers. The results of the survey provide insight into how today’s consumers are meal planning and grocery shopping. Data points include the most popular online and in-store grocery retailers, the top sources of online meal inspiration and consumer likelihood to purchase groceries directly from online food content.
“For the second year in a row, respondents identified food blogs and recipe sites as their go-to sources for meal inspiration online,” says Chicory CEO and Co-Founder Yuni Sameshima. “If brands and retailers aren’t yet leveraging off-site content to acquire new customers, they need to start. Today, winning at the shelf requires meeting consumers in moments of inspiration, well before they hit the retailer’s store or site.”
Key findings outlined in the official survey report include:
Multi-Channel and Online Shopping is the New Normal
66% of consumers have purchased groceries online in the last 60 days. While shopping behaviors are similar across gender and age groups, women and consumers 30 to 40 years old express the highest overall preference for online shopping. 44% of those who prefer to shop in-store still order groceries online.
Off-Site Channels are Key to the Path to Purchase
Food blogs and recipes publishers are the most popular sources of online meal inspiration according to 64% of survey respondents. This is consistent across all age groups. In fact, food blogs and recipe publishers even outperform TikTok among the youngest generation of grocery shoppers, those 18 to 29 years old.
Almost 50% of shoppers are likely (31%) or very likely to (18%) purchase groceries directly from online food content (e.g. digital recipes, social media posts), signaling that off-site grocery commerce is becoming increasingly common.
Shoppers Prioritize Price and Convenience
Price is the top consideration for purchasing a product again (71%). It’s also the factor most likely to drive someone to change preferred retailers (65%). However, location/convenience is an important factor too according to 48% of survey respondents. This likely explains why grocery and food delivery apps, which deliver groceries right to shoppers’ doors, are nearly tied with Target as the third-most popular online grocery retailer.
To read the entire report, please download The Omnichannel Grocery Shopper in 2022.
Survey Methodology
Chicory surveyed 1,076 American consumers, ages 18 to 85, on March 9, 2022. The margin of error is +/- 3.049%.
