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| Online Grocery Shopping |
Groceries are different from many other
products, such as
stationary and books, kitchen
appliances like
food processor (bajaj platini food processor)that are commonly
purchased online. Many grocery products are easily-spoiled and therefore
time-sensitive in terms of their delivery needs. In addition, groceries are a
replacement product, i.e., the same basket of products is more-or-less
purchased on a regular basis. Finally, groceries are high-touch items, meaning
that consumers like to inspect the quality of items they are purchasing.
Five years ago
online grocery sales were only $85 million (Machlis, 1998);
however, in 2002 Jupiter Media Metrix estimate that online grocery store
revenue will reach $1.3 billion (Lorek, 2001). This growing market had
attracted an number of "pure-plays" - companies that focused
exclusively on selling through the Internet, and attempted to replace classical
bricks-and-mortar supermarkets. Most of these pure-plays failed spectacularly.
Today, traditional bricks-and-mortars stores are increasingly entering the
online market in an attempt to leverage both brand awareness and create
distribution efficiencies.
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) has identified the reasons that people,
generally speaking, choose to shoppig online (FMI, 2000). Food marketing
research revealed that 86 percent of consumers go online or access their
computer on a daily basis. Of these individuals, 70 percent use the Internet
frequently for shopping. Those consumers between the ages of 20 to 34 are most
likely to use the Internet for shopping. FMI also identified how respondents
locate online shopping sites. The two main methods are looking in the Web site
of a familiar store and doing a keyword search on a browser. These findings
indicate that stores with a bricks-and-mortar presence have an advantage in
attracting new users to their sites. Hence, as we shall see later, it is hardly
surprising that pure-plays had difficulty establishing brand loyalty in this
marketspace. To know more about consumers motive
click here.
Although the research discussed so far indicates a strong conceptual
interest in shopping online, the findings also point to some consumer concerns.
In particular, the research by MyWebGrocer indicates that consumers were
concerned about on-time delivery, the quality of product, and the limited
selection and variety of goods on the site. It was revealed that after
registering, shoppers did not order in the same session since they did not have
the time or did not find their favorite brands.
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