What you need to know
The online grocery market continues to expand with online grocery sales growing by 12.5% in 2015 to reach £8.6 billion. The online operations of the major grocery retailers continue to dominate the market with store-based retailers accounting for 73.7% of total online grocery sales in 2015. However, the online-only players, notably Ocado, are growing quickly and the imminent launch of a full grocery offer from Amazon means that the major store-based players are coming under increased pressure from online-only rivals.
We found that 48% of consumers now shop for some groceries online but just 11% shop exclusively online. However, those who do shop online are increasingly shifting more of their grocery buying habits online, 29% of online grocery shoppers said they are doing more of their shopping online whilst just 11% said they are doing less. The convenience of using an online service compared to visiting stores is driving this but improvements in the range of delivery slots, speed of delivery and click-and-collect points are also encouraging more online grocery shopping. However, the lack of control when selecting fresh products still remains the largest barrier to entry and is also turning some shoppers away from online grocery shopping.
Areas covered in this report
Within this report we include both market and consumer data around the retailing of grocery products online.
Our market size for online grocery includes:
Major grocers’ online sales of food and drink and other grocery products
Online-only grocers’ sales (eg Ocado)
Specialist food and drink retailers’ online sales
Online-based food box and recipe box delivery schemes.
It excludes:
General merchandise sales made online by the major grocers
Foodservice delivery (eg restaurant or fast food takeaways ordered online)
Home delivery of groceries not ordered online.
