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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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New Data Show Increased Consumer Interest in Online Grocery Shopping

All of the investments grocery retailers are making into robotic fulfillment, curbside pickup and even self-driving delivery hinge on the idea that shoppers will migrate from their habitual shopping in-store to shopping online. That can be a big ask when talking about a product that people often want to look at and touch before buying.

But the good news for the grocer retailers investing in those technologies is that according to two recent market studies, people are getting more comfortable with and ordering more groceries online.

Yesterday, Grocery Dive reported on a Field Agent survey of 3,342 shoppers. In the survey, 66 percent of respondents said they expect to be buying their groceries online in the next five years. Right now, 97 percent of primary grocery shoppers do so in-store, according to Field Agent, but 52 percent do buy some groceries online and 21 percent are open to the possibility.

The Field Agent survey came a day after NPD Group released its own stats around online grocery grocery. From a press announcement on its findings, NPD wrote:

The percentage of U.S. consumers, ages 18 and above, who shopped online for groceries within a 30-day period, whether for delivery or pick-up in store, increased from 17 percent in the quarter ending November 2018 to 20 percent, or about 51 million consumers, in the quarter ending February 2019…

Both of these stats reinforce a study from Coresight last month that found 36.8 percent of U.S. consumers bought groceries online over the past year, which was a jump up from 23.1 percent in the firm’s 2018 survey. That represents an increase of roughly 35 million more consumers buying groceries online.

With consumer trends showing an increase in online grocery shopping, it looks like the investment retailers are making now in faster fulfillment and logistics should pay off down the road. But in addition to looking at how people will buy their groceries, both Field Agent and NPD Group also looked at where they want to receive them.

The Field Agent survey showed that 38 percent of respondents use curbside pickup, double the 16 percent that use delivery. NPD found that of those shoppers ordering groceries online, 16 percent choose delivery and 11 percent choose to BOPUS (buy online pickup in store — ed. note: cute moniker!).

How consumers pick up grocery will be something to definitely keep an eye on as it could determine where groceries put their investment dollars. Should they explore more self-driving delivery vehicles like Kroger, or focus more on automated curbside pickup like Walmart?

Record Number of Robots Shipped in 2018, Food Sector Among Big Buyers

I’m feeling some deja vu. A record number of robots were shipped in North America last year, according to new stats released yesterday from the Robotics Industry Association (RIA), part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). The food industry was among the top non-automotive sectors buying.

From the press announcement:

35,880 units were shipped in 2018, a 7 percent increase over 2017, with 16,702 shipments to non-automotive companies, up 41 percent. Notable growth came in areas like food and consumer goods (48 percent), plastics and rubber (37 percent), life sciences (31 percent), and electronics (22 percent).

Like the remainder in The Matrix, I feel like I’ve written this before because I did when A3 announced record shipments at the end of 2017.

For comparison, the A3’s 2017 report said that 27,294 orders for robots were placed during the first nine months of that year, with food and consumer goods accounting for 21 percent of that total. Caveat: it’s not a one-to-one comparison as the 2017 report only accounted for nine months, but you can see the general growth year-over-year, especially when it comes to percentage of shipments to food and consumer goods (an admittedly broad category) companies.

Additionally, in its press release, the A3 called out the fact that robot buyers are not just large, multi-national companies anymore; more small and medium-sized businesses are using robots now as well.

This kind of data isn’t surprising to us at The Spoon, as we spent a good part of 2018 chronicling the rise of robots throughout the food stack. From hauling gear on farms, to micro-fulfillment centers in the back of grocery stores, to robot restaurants and little rover bots delivering meals, robots are an increasingly central part of the meal journey.

I expect I’ll be writing about 2019 being another record year for robot shipments this time next year.