The A – Z Of Convenience Of Online Grocery Shopping

Synopsis:

• Introduction
• Assembly and Categories of online Grocery store
• The Rise of online Grocery Shopping
• Consumer motives
• Consumer concerns
• Benefits of online Grocery shopping
• Must Have Tips for online grocery shopping
• Conclusion

Introduction:

What is e-grocery? As simple it states that shopping of grocery items like fruits, vegetables, food staples etc via online through e-commerce websites. But Groceries are unlike many other products, such as music, electronic gadgets, dresses and books, that are commonly purchased online. Generally many grocery products including fruits and vegetables are perishable hence it is time-sensitive in terms of their delivery needs. Since the buyers feel more comfort with online payments, selling groceries online has become relatively easy.

This growing market had attracted an abundant number of “pure-plays” – companies attempting to replace traditional bricks-and-mortar supermarkets and focused exclusively on selling through the Internet. Today, conventional bricks-and-mortars suppliers are increasingly entering the online market in an attempt to strengthen both brand awareness and create distribution efficiencies.

Groceries sell irrespective of the country of the economy. You can halt going to the movie theatre and restaurants, but there’s no way you can live without fruits, toothpaste, soap and vegetables etc. Since we are living in the city’s fast pace, exhausting commuting and long working hours, many people don’t have the time to buy groceries or would like to avoid the chore hence online grocery shopping in India and many other countries plays an important role in our life.

Assembly and Categories of online Grocery store:

Online Grocery shopping is a multi-step process starting from customer value till delivery. When we see an online grocery store webpage, the design is well maintained  throughout the whole page. This can have a huge impact on customers purchase decisions and increase sales. Online Grocery store web page may be assembled with certain important things like

• Clarity of relevant content – Price and product attributes will be stated highly visible on the webpage. Customers can quickly find a product, especially in a lower price category like groceries that satisfies their needs.
• Crystal Clear purchasing process – Since a complex online purchasing process can cause the postponement of a purchase, hence clear purchasing model with easy and limited steps by Indian online grocery store makes higher sales
• Categories Involved– Online grocery shopping webpage has these main categories such as Fruits & Vegetables, Frozen foods, Dairy and eggs, Rice, Flours and grains, Spices, Pulses, Pantry, Snacks, Beverages, Instant foods and Health Beauty
• Tailor Made– Inasmuch as all the online grocery stores have customized web pages which assist and help the customer with making a choice and payment transactions, like personalized recommendations and saving of customer details, produce higher consumer satisfaction.
• Customer reviews – Word-of-mouth (WOM) is acknowledged as a powerful tool in the customer marketplace and online customer reviews are classified as the top social media tool having a significant impact on buying behavior hence online Indian grocery store are pleasantly welcoming buyer’s reviews for their reputation.

The Rise of online Grocery Shopping:

Since many people feel some inconvenience in regular super markets like long lines, difficulties in parking, crowded spaces, time-consuming etc, now everyone thinks online grocery shopping is more convenient than conventional drugstore. Therefore these are the top and main reasons for buyers to do online grocery shopping. The countries like France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States are the massive online grocery markets, with the complete extent of online retailers. In that note U.K. is the most developed market, since it contributed 20% of the households doing online grocery shopping.

Online grocery store shopping requires high investments and logistics infrastructures so it cannot be something that can be offered by every grocery store around the corner.  Many supermarkets mainly research the consumer need for satisfaction and therefore they ensure more digital environment in store which ranging from self-service checkouts to trendy shopping charts with instant feedback on promotions, recommended complementary products and also sharing recipes to make them to skip the checkout lane

Even Though there is constant supply and demand for online grocery shopping, it contributes only 3.3% of global supermarkets sales of $ 60.000 billion is coming from e-grocery and it is expected 4% by the end of 2014. The main factors which affect the online grocery shopping will be consumer trust, costs wise and Buyers habits.

Consumer Trust – Many of the grocery products are perishable, hence customers want to buy themselves to check the quality thereby it lacks interest to get from online stores.

Cost Wise – Cost plays a major role in online grocery shopping with both positive and negative influence.  Lower cost is one of the chief reasons for customers to shop groceries online which makes it positive. Whereas on the other hand due to the low margins on groceries, extra costs like delivery cost are charged for online grocery shopping. This has a negative influence on the customers’ decision to do online grocery shopping

Buyers Habit – Although they experience so much trouble during grocery shopping in stores, Buyers are used to this conventional supermarket environment and it will be like their part of the weekly routine and has become ritualized. Breaking through with these habits, both emotionally and physically is something that takes time.  Many customers are not ready to change their habits and even if their preferred familiar existing store sells online.

Consumer motives:

The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) has identified that 86 percent of consumers go online or access their computer on a daily basis and choose to shop online. It also revealed that out of these, 70 percent use the Internet frequently for shopping. Those Buyers between the ages of 25 to 34 are most likely to surf the Internet for online shopping. The Food Marketing Institute also identified how consumers locate online shopping sites. These findings reveal that stores with a bricks-and-mortar presence have an higher advantage in captivating more users to their websites.

The decision to purchase groceries online happens only after customers evaluate and compare the merits and costs of the product than in a traditional brick-and-mortar.  E-grocers were found to be comparable to their conventional supermarkets counterparts in terms of product variety, and were viewed more positively on the aspect of ambience, convenience and service. With Respect to service and benefits the following observations were made:

The main aspect called service in e-grocers appears to be a major attraction for consumers. Today’s all the people’s jobs have increased working hours. Nowadays Consumers are also busier than ever, more mobile, more affluent, and increasingly impatient with time-consuming tasks. As a result of these attitudinal and social changes, people are pulled to convenient, dependable as well as alternative solutions for grocery shopping. Grocery shopping is repetitive and also a necessary task that brings rise to the e- grocery in further years.  In this regard, researchers found that 73 percent of online grocery shopping buyers reported that convenience and time saving as the primary reasons that they use the Internet to buy groceries.

Consumer concerns:

Even though the researchers indicate a strong logical interest in shopping online, the findings also point to some concerns of the consumer. The research revealed that consumers were mainly concerned about on-time delivery, the quality of product, the limited selection and variety of goods on the site. It was revealed when after registration of the consumer, shoppers did not make an order in the same session because they did not have the time or did not find their preferred brands. Consumers simply end the shopping online because of recurrent bad experiences, which also includes not being able to find their favorite products.

The other main concern of online shopping is Online security and privacy. In specific, security issues mainly involved during the transfer of personal and financial information (for example, addresses, telephone numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) across the Internet. The second main privacy concern refers to the use of online consumer demographic and taste-related data. Many Online stores collect this data and can use it to target customers or sell to marketing firms for marketing analysis without their knowledge.

Benefits of Online Grocery shopping:

There are numerous benefits of online Grocery shopping out there for both Customers as well as vendors some of they are,

Buy in Bulk with Ease – As everyone may already know, buying products in bulk is a great way to cut your grocery costs higher. However, many shoppers fear buying in bulk because it means taking up extra cart space and travelling with the weight of bulky packages. But these things were made easier with online shopping by simply adding your bulk product in your virtual cart and proceeding payment and your order came in your doorstep for delivery.

Saves Money- online grocery saves your lot of bucks when we compare to our traditional supermarkets since they are directly purchased from factory outlets.

Avoid Standing in a queue and Save time- online grocery shopping saves a lot of time than conventional supermarkets. In traditional supermarkets we have to search for the items we want to shop and then comes the payment process. Standing in the queue to get the QR codes of all the items checked and then paying.

Less distractions for you and your kids – You save a lot because it limits wandering around the store picking up items you really don’t need and also your kids don’t ask for extra things.

Doorstep Delivery- Consumers really enjoy doorstep delivery and that too in the shortest time possible. Midnight delivery or within 24 hours. The customer also can track the activity of the delivery man through some of their own apps. These online grocery stores work 7 days a week, so you don’t have to bother about holidays or working hours.

Stay in Budget- Everything is well balanced in online grocery shopping by adding in the virtual cart simultaneously we can see total thereby i can delete things which are not necessary at the end to stay within my budget.

Cut Gas and Parking Costs – While we shop online for groceries means you can avoid making extra miles in your car, thus saves on gas and parking charges.

Avoid Making Multiple Trips- Forget to add a new item to your online shopping cart? It’s not a big deal to add them back to your cart even after making payment, you have time until the delivery day to your home which saves no more treks back to the store for that single item you forgot.

Shop on your own leisure hours- You can shop on your own timetable. There is no need to check store hours.

Offers and discount coupons- Every online grocery store provides many instant offers, rewards, loyalty points and discounts to both new and existing customers, therefore it’s beneficial for them.

Various Mode of Payment- There are various payment options in online shopping while compared to traditional supermarkets hence the customers can choose any of the preferred payment modes and pay. These days many of the people opt for digital payment mode as it is more comfort and hassle-free.

Avoid buying duplicates-  While doing online grocery shopping, you can double-check your inventory instantly so you can avoid buying the same items i.e duplicates with ease and save your money like a pro

Plenty of variety –Like other e-commerce businesses, online grocery shopping stores also have a wider variety of items available compared to your local store. Many of the online Indian grocery stores claim to have products available on the market from over 1,000 brands. You’ll also find that product easily and you can see all deals in one place. Moreover, they typically stock imported brands which are harder to find in your local supermarkets.

Easy returns – If you feel that the main disadvantage of online grocery shopping is not being able to check the products before buying online. This, in particular, it will be a big issue when it comes to perishable items. But on a positive note of online shopping If you find that the product is defective in any way, there is a `no inquires asked’ return policy that is immediately followed by most online shopping services. Simply contact the customer care and they will take care of the entire return and refund process as soon as possible.

Must Have Tips for online grocery shopping:

• Use an online grocery store in their own mobile apps which can be downloaded freely from the internet and proceed the order on the go.
• Safety is prior while shopping since it is essential in today’s online world. So it is best to choose a reputed and well known e-grocer and also research about the company before sharing your personal as well as financial information like credit card information.
• Consider and double check to see if your reliable online grocer has customer service in case you have a question or need to speak to a live person. This can be very useful if you need to swap an order, track a postponed delivery, or get a refund for damaged food products such as a leaking carton of milk or a mashed bunch of bananas.
• Always carefully watch out for fees. Each online grocer has a different fee structure some may do free delivery, some may not and in some cases they do course of free deliveries over a month or years with one subscription fee . Be aware of exactly what you are paying for as these can quickly add up. You’ll always need to book in advance while holidays or other busy times or in predicted snow storms since that will add up extra pounds.
• Before ordering or even signing up in an online grocery store, search for coupons codes, offers or discounts. Some offer special pricing, especially for first-time customers.
• User error is the most usual issue you’ll experience the first time you shop online. So always ensure you are Double or triple check your order
• Having a list of necessary items prepared for your meal plans beforehand will also save you time, with that you can also check coupon codes for those particular products and save your money as well.

Conclusion:

COVID-19 is disrupting India and many other countries in an unusual manner. In order to deal with the Corona Virus, many countries of over 1.3 billion people went into lock-down for a period which is essential to limit pandemic spread starting March 25th, 2020.  While essential categories, such as grocery and pharmacy are going to be available during the lockdown also, this creates problems for shops as well as consumers since viruses are contagious. In this specific time, online stores played a major role to satisfy the needs for both consumers as well as vendors.

Even though there has been a great decline in the number of pure-play online stores, there appears to be a solid market for shopping online in future due to their huge benefits.