According to Roy Morgan Research, less than half (47.4 per cent) of the Australian population actually enjoy grocery shopping.
The company’s latest research findings indicate that some 12.8 million Australians are their household’s main grocery-buyer, yet only three per cent of them (389,000 people) do their supermarket shopping via the internet in an average four weeks. This represents a substantial increase on 2011, when 169,000 grocery buyers were making their supermarket purchases this way.
The proportion of grocery-buyers buying alcohol online in any given four weeks is also growing, with studies suggesting the figure almost doubled from 1.6 per cent (or 196,000 people) in 2011 to 3.1 per cent (398,000) as of June 2015.
There is a marked crossover between the two categories, with 14.3 per cent of survey respondents who do their supermarket shopping online also purchasing alcohol the same way, and 14 per cent of those who buy alcohol online also doing their supermarket shopping over the internet.
The research indicates that with four out of five Aussie women being their household’s main grocery-buyer, women (3.8 per cent) are almost twice as likely as men (1.8 per cent) to do their supermarket shopping online (with men, however, more likely than women to buy alcohol on the internet).
Studies also indicate that parents with children aged under 16 years in the household are much more likely than people from childless households to buy their groceries this way, particularly when the kids are aged up to two years (8.6 per cent) and between three and five years (8.5 per cent).
“Online grocery shopping is still relatively niche in Australia, but if supermarkets continue to invest in their e-commerce platforms and introduce cheaper delivery and online loyalty schemes, it’s likely that the number of Aussie grocery buyers shopping this way will continue to grow,” Roy Morgan Research General Manager – Consumer Products Andrew Price said.
“In today’s time-pressed society, getting to the supermarket is not always easy, whereas a few clicks on a smartphone can be done anywhere, any time.
“Of the major supermarkets, a higher proportion of Woolworths and Coles customers make supermarket purchases online than those who usually shop at ALDI and IGA. Currently, ALDI only offers alcohol online [although its customers come in below average for this kind of purchase], while IGA has not yet expanded into e-commerce, which limits its loyal customers’ options.
“Furthermore, our data shows that online supermarket [and liquor] shopping is still more popular among ‘technology early adopters’ than other technology adoption segments. But as mainstream Australia becomes more comfortable with the concept, it stands to reason that more people will purchase groceries and alcohol via the internet.”
