The US food and beverage industry has been impacted heavily by COVID-19. In 2020, more consumers than ever before were deciding to order food and beverage items online to avoid grocery shopping in crowded stores, where they might be exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

Prepared by The Hartman Group, the 2020 report provides a clear picture of grocery shopping habits before the pandemic, attitude shifts that took place during COVID-19 and offers a glimpse of what might come next for the food industry.

The meal kit industry is arguably the best example of a food industry segment that’s making it easier for adults to start cooking more at home again.

The option to order online and pick-up in store, also known as click-and-collect or BOPUS (buy online pickup in store) is favored by 11% of online grocery shoppers. Seven% of these shoppers mix it up and do both, according to NPD’s National Eating Trends® Omnichannel Scorecard.    

Online grocery sales projections vary wildly, so I’m siding with Nielsen's forecast of $100 billion by 2022. Regardless of the exact figure, the pace of change in retail grocery is accelerating.

In 2014, Betsy founded McGinn eComm to provide expertise in eCommerce strategy to consumer products companies, ranging from launch stage to multi-billion dollar brands.

“While the overall number of Americans over 50 who grocery-shop online is relatively low, the findings can help us forecast future trends as technology use becomes even more common among older adults and other age groups,” said Alexandra Lewin-Zwerdling, Vice President of Research and Partnerships at the IFIC Foundation.

In early 2017 NPD reported that 6% of US consumers shopped online for groceries and now up to 16%, or over 52 million people, shop online, using either delivery or click-and-collect. The convenience of online grocery shopping has trumped some of the concerns consumers previously had about shopping online for groceries, such as higher costs, fees, or waiting for delivery.  And, like shopping online for other consumer goods, online grocery shoppers take an omnichannel approach and still shop at brick-and-mortar grocers.    

According to the NPD report, 20 million consumers who are current, lapsed, or new to online grocery shopping plan to increase their virtual shopping for foods and beverages over the next six months.