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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Gallup

Gallup: Curbside Pickup and Restaurant Takeout Show Double Digit Growth During Pandemic

A new survey from Gallup released today shows that more Americans have adopted low-contact methods of getting their food since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The survey found that 44 percent of U.S. adults picked up takeout from a restaurant in May (up from 26 percent at the end of March), and 36 percent used curbside pickup from a store (up from 19 percent in March).

While your first reaction to this news might be “Duh, we were on lockdown,” you’re not wrong. I mean, restaurants across the country had to close their dine-in service, so the only options were takeout and delivery. The Gallup survey is worth pointing out because data is better than anecdotes, and this study adds to a growing body of market research around our pandemic behaviors.

And sure, stats on increased restaurant takeout might not be too surprising, and the growth for curbside pickup is and will something to keep an eye on. Almost double the number of people are doing curbside pickup now since the beginning of the pandemic. And while Gallup’s poll only breaks out curbside pickup “at a store,” and not specifically a grocery store, the survey’s findings are in-line with other recent research on the growth of online grocery shopping.

A Brick Meets Click survey from earlier this month reported that online grocery sales hit $5.3 billion in April, with 40 million people shopping for groceries online. A Coresight survey also from this month predicted that online grocery shopping will grow by 40 percent this year to hit $30 billion in food and beverage sales.

While takeout and pickup have seen big increases over the past couple of months, delivery hasn’t seen a similar spike. According to that same Gallup survey, 23 percent of respondents had food or pizza delivered from a restaurant in May (up from 13 percent in March), and 14 percent had groceries delivered (up from 11 percent in March).

The bigger question looming over all of this data, of course, is how many of these behaviors will become permanent. As states around the country start to relax their shelter in place orders, we’ll have to see if people revert to the pre-pandemic patterns or have adopted totally new ones.

Gallup: 81 Percent of Americans “Never” Order Groceries Online (But That’s Still Good News for Grocers)

A survey out from Gallup last week showed that the vast majority of Americans are not shopping for groceries online. According to Gallup, “Eighty-one percent of Americans say they never order groceries online, while 11% say they do so at least once a month.”

Gallup posited the following explanation for American hesitancy when it comes to online grocery shopping, writing:

The slow adoption of online food ordering could indicate that people enjoy picking their own groceries in person or that they don’t see sufficient savings of time or money to justify the switch. The delivery charges that go along with food delivery may be a factor in that.

That sounds pretty dire for the grocery industry, which is investing pretty heavily in online ordering and fulfillment mechanisms. But one of the good things about this stat is that we have a similar Gallup poll from almost exactly a year ago to compare it to. If you are looking for a silver lining, last year Gallup found that 84 percent never bought groceries online. So there’s been a three percent drop in the number of “nevers.”

Additionally, there’s more (relatively) good news to be found if you dig into the numbers a bit. Last year Gallup found that 14 percent of adults with children under 18 bought groceries online at least monthly. The 2019 survey found that 19 percent of those with children under 18 bought groceries online at least monthly. So if you’re playing the (very) long game, there are more families online grocery shopping, and they are raising a new generation that will grow up believing online shopping is the normal way to get groceries.

The Gallup stats should be taken as a piece of a bigger set of data around the evolution of grocery shopping. While it was small, Gallup did find an increase in the number of people who have at least tried online grocery shopping this year. In May, Coresight Research found that between 2018 and 2019, there was an increase of 35 million people who shopped for groceries online. And in July, a Field Agent survey found that 66 percent of its respondents expect to be buying their groceries online in the next five years.

Having said all that, in-store shopping is still the way to go when it comes to groceries for most Americans. Gallup’s 2019 found that 83 percent say that they shop at grocery stores at least once a week, which is why the biggest opportunity for grocers may be investing in curbside pickup (which many are already doing). Curbside pickup allows people to maintain their regular life schedules, and gives them an opportunity to inspect items at the store in case any need to be returned.

My guess would be this time next year, Gallup will show another year of incremental growth in online grocery shopping. But as big investments from Walmart, Kroger and Albertsons move out of testing and into real life, the adoption for online grocery shopping will accelerate soon after that.

Gallup Poll: Grocery Shoppers Prefer In-Store to Online, Shun Meal Kits

A recent poll by Gallup shows that the 84 percent of U.S. adults say they “never” buy groceries online, and 89 percent never order meal kits. By contrast, 81 percent say that they shop for groceries in person at a store at least once a week. (Hat tip: Food Dive)

The Gallup poll reinforces other studies which found that people like to shop for groceries in-store so that they can see and touch them. But it also highlights two trends to watch: meal kits’ continued shift away from mail order, and the transformation of grocery stores into curbside fulfillment centers.

We’ve been skeptics of mail order meal kits for some time, so seeing Gallup’s statistic that 89 percent of respondents never ordering a meal kit isn’t that surprising. Look at the current meal kit landscape: Home Chef is owned by Kroger, Plated is owned by Albertsons, Chef’d abruptly shut down last month, and its assets were purchased to focus on retail. Even stalwarts like Blue Apron and HelloFresh are both rolling out retail strategies.

Part of this is because mail order meal kits deny people the convenience that they want. According to research by Acosta and Technomic, 85 percent of U.S. diners decide what to eat for dinner the day of, which is why placing meal kits in grocery store aisles makes more sense than requiring people to pre-order meals days (or weeks) in advance. People in the grocery store can grab what they want to eat that night — no pre-planning required.

For meal kit companies looking to make the move to retail, however, it might already be too late. As mentioned, Krogers and Albertsons own their own meal kit companies, but they’re far from the only ones: Amazon makes its their own meal kits, Walmart has started to. On a smaller scale, regional grocery stores like New Seasons are getting in on the action, too. There’s only so much grocery shelf space, and a retailer is probably going to promote its own branded kit over a third party’s.

Meanwhile, the in-store shopping experience is going through its own transition. Large grocery stores are starting to be outfitted with robotic micro-fulfillment centers and expanded drive-through pick up options. Alert Innovation is building out such a center for Walmart and Takeoff will announce its first in-store robot operation later this year. These fast, automated centers inside local grocery stores will allow for online grocery order pickup within a half hour to better fit in with people’s busy schedules of errand running or grabbing something on the way home from work.

Additionally, the ability to pick up items in person allows people to inspect their purchases on the spot for quality and freshness — and return something if necessary — while still at the store. They get the convenience of ordering online, the ability to pick up while already out (without having to wait at home for a delivery window), and the power to make adjustments before heading home.

But wait, Gallup said people aren’t buying groceries online. That’s correct… for now! If you look at the demographic break down, 14 percent of adults with children under 18 and 12 percent of adults aged 35 – 54 order groceries online. Compare that to the 8 percent of people 55 and older who buy groceries on the web. And sure, only 9 percent of adults aged 18 – 34 purchase groceries online (they are mostly ordering takeout), but this is a generation being raised on digital convenience.

If these demographic trends hold true, it seems like as though as younger generations age up and start families, the number of people comfortable with ordering groceries online will grow.

With all these changes, I’m looking forward to seeing the same Gallup poll five years from now.