For many of us, the majority of our purchases are made online these days. It's estimated that for Americans, at least 51 percent of their purchases are made online; spending billions of dollars every year. Consumers are buying everything from artwork and jewelry to clothing, food, electronics, and a lot more. Over the years we see that consumers have become more comfortable buying across a number of different categories online.

There are many different subscription services available that can offer convenience to the consumer by providing their most needed items on a regular basis for them, without them ever having to even leave their home.

Millions of people have embraced these shopping subscription services and opting to buy more of their items online. If these services do provide more convenience to the consumer then we can expect that they will stay around for a long time; we vote with our dollars for the services and the products that we want to see succeed.

But one area where consumers have been rather reluctant to embrace online shopping is with their groceries.

It's reported that grocery sales make up a small portion of the overall food retail market but many well-known corporations are still heavily invested in exploring this space. Businesses like Target, Amazon, and Walmart for example.

And they aren't the only ones,...

there are also a number of other independent and smaller grocery subscription services, thousands of them in the US and around the world that are competing with the bigger chains to get consumers their favorite food products in a timely and convenient matter via their delivery service.

One new startup in Australia for example, Sprout Market, is looking to offer consumers organic groceries at competitive and affordable prices; membership with them is said to provide a savings of anywhere from 16 to 60 percent on many of the products that are sold by the chain.

Yet, aside from the many options that are out there, shoppers still seem reluctant to opt for getting their groceries online.

British shoppers are said to currently rank at the top when it comes to buying their groceries online. They buy more of their food online than any other country in the world, according to a recent assessment by Kantar Worldpanel. When it comes to how much shoppers spend on occasion, every visit to the online grocery store, following the UK was France, then Portugal, Spain, and Taiwan. In many countries, online grocery purchases still only make up a very small portion of the market.

The big food players aren't giving up though, they're looking to innovate their way to success. Amazon has recently launched their curbside pickup option, they've opened a drive-thru grocery store pickup location in Seattle, Washington. And this allows consumers who are a part of their AmazonFresh grocery program (roughly $14.99 per month), to pick up their order rather than wait for it to be delivered.

Walmart isn't far behind, they too are now going to be testing a 24-hour automated pickup kiosk that serves the same purpose, allowing shoppers to pick up their order rather than wait for delivery. It's reported that Walmart is testing this kiosk in Oklahoma at only one of their locations.

This year it's estimated that online grocery sales will only make up about 1-3 percent of the overall grocery market.

There is a lot of room for them to grow still and it's clear that many shoppers are reluctant to start getting their food this way, but it is expected that the trend will see a lot of growth in the coming years.

A variety of reasons have been suggested for the disinterest in opting for online grocery shopping: perhaps some people just enjoy the social shopping experience, others are worried about perishables, many want to inspect the quality of the food for themselves in person before they buy, the added cost to pay for the delivery or food delivery program service, and so on.

The more that Amazon and others can look to innovate in providing a better price to consumers and an improved shopping experience in the way of efficiency, then it might only be a matter of time before the majority sway in the direction of going online for their grocery shopping.

Pics:
Pixabay

Sources:
http://fortune.com/2016/06/08/online-shopping-increases/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-shoppers-are-saying-yes-to-their-wedding-dress-by-clicking-buyonline-2017-05-23
http://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/customers-not-yet-sold-on-buying-groceries-online-but-retailers-still-see-revenue-opportunity
@doitvoluntarily/amazon-looking-to-carve-out-a-bigger-space-in-grocery-delivery-services
https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/food-and-drink/article/sydney-start-making-organic-groceries-affordable-2017
http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/544043/2016_Webinars/Food_Beverage_Consumables_Webinar/White_Paper/4th_Annual_Food_and_Beverage_Consumable_Study.pdf?t=1476820089888
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/02/british-shoppers-top-table-buying-groceries-online/
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-launches-curbside-pickup-for-groceries-2017-5
http://www.fooddive.com/news/grocery--walmart-testing-24-hour-automated-pickup-kiosk-for-groceries/444211/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2017/01/16/why-online-grocers-are-so-unsuccessful-and-what-amazon-is-doing-about-it/#56be3d447f56
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/30/online-grocery-sales-set-surge-grabbing-20-percent-of-market-by-2025.html