Within 10 years, online food shopping will reach digital maturity in the US
Serving as a resource for retailers and manufacturers as the industry embarks on the next digital frontier, Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Nielsen released a preview of its "Digitally Engaged Food Shopper" analysis at the FMI Midwinter Conference in Scottsdale, AZ. The introductory set of insights from this joint, multi-year initiative offer a comprehensive look into the behaviors, motivations and expectations of the digitally engaged food shopper. This first perspective offers recommendations on how food marketers and manufacturers should be preparing their strategies and managing the organizational change that will be required to engage those shoppers.
Initial findings from this study show that within the next decade, online food shopping will reach maturation in the US, far faster than other industries that have come online before. Research also revealed that the center store is likely to shift online faster than other departments, suggesting a fundamental evaluation of the role the store plays in digital food shopping. The research estimates that in the current climate of technology adoption and evolution, consumer spend on online grocery shopping could reach $100 billion. To put that into context, that is the equivalent of 3,900 grocery stores based on store volume.