Why Online Grocery Shopping Is Here To Stay

Do you also buy online grocery in Bahrain? If yes, you are one of the thousands of people who have accepted online grocery shopping as the new mode of grocery. This habit has settled in after coronavirus when face to face interactions were severely limited for health purposes. Since then, people have had a taste of what convenience and low-budget grocery shopping looks like and they have resorted to the digital realm to fulfill their grocery needs.

But do you ever wonder whether online grocery is here to stay? Read all about it here and know what will work in the future and what will not.

Buying Online Means Less Time Shopping

Did you know that 68% of people consider online shopping a stress-free experience and then 60% of people say that it is the fastest way of grocery shopping. More than half of people have said that they find their products in a faster way and grocery shopping is extremely convenient.

Most people in the United States have said that consumers are relying on their technological devices to stock up on what they need to eat at their homes. They have stopped spending a lot of time outside trying to do essential tasks and grocery shopping is one of them. Most of the people also noted that when people go inside grocery stores, they tend to spend more time inside than is needed which is counterproductive and racks up a higher bill. People have now started resorting to physical grocery stores only to get what is not available online.

Online Shopping Is Habit-Forming

Buying grocery shopping has become a habit-forming exercise which is why people can not get out of this habit. These are the statistics that have shown that online grocery shopping is addictive:

• The percentage of people who purchase things through retailer’s website (47%)

• People research about the products before buying them (37%)

• People purchase through AI tools to buy using recommendations (34%)

• Use digital coupons to save money when doing grocery shopping (33%)

• They spend several days to build their cart (30%)

• They spend fraction of the time buying things from the app (28%)

People are most satisfied by being able to pick up orders on time and the accuracy of their orders. The time spent buying online groceries is half of what is spent when shopping in-store.

People cite the ease of picking up orders, the quality of perishable items being guaranteed and the products offered for unavailable items are also more helpful. The digital coupons taken help with reducing the overall costs and the product recommendations are helpful for reducing the bill.

The Categories Are Expanding

People are finding that the categories of shopping are increasing and expanding giving them more options to shop. People have access to essentials and luxury grocery items at all times to fulfill their needs. Fresh items are the only category of food that are being bought more frequently from in-store. People are still hesitant about whether fresh items or cheese can be securely bought from online retailers.

Do you remember the time when all things remained out of stock during the pandemic? That is when people started discovering the gem of online grocery shopping. Are you also one of the people who are out to buy groceries in Bahrain? If yes, you must also know the essential items that were nowhere to be found only came through online grocery stores. Online subscriptions also increased during the pandemic which is why the total bills were reduced. People tend to understand the value of high-price subscriptions and cash-back guarantees:

These are the items people tend to go for online grocery stores more:

• Pet care/food: 50%

• Coffee or tea: 41%

• Shelf-stable foods: 35%

• Paper/cleaning supplies: 35%

• Over-the-counter medications: 35%

• Shaving products: 35%

• Meal kits: 34%

• Beauty/care/cosmetics: 34%

Inflation Is Marked By In-Store Shopping

The inflation is, of course, creeping up on everybody at this time. Be it in the Kingdom or abroad because inflation has not spared anybody. Hence, online subscriptions and the schemes used by people to incentivize people to shop for online grocery stores is what has been helping people to reduce their bills.

The inflation has impacted grocery shopping for people too because now they must shop with lists in their hands. They have also begun shopping for groceries in a way that maximizes those products that last for longer. It doesn’t help to purchase those things that go stale in one day.

Quality Is Also Consistent

People only shop where there is ease and convenience. The shopping preferences and the likes and dislikes come because they get better experience from one place and worse one from the other. They go for the places where quality is consistent and the online shopping experience is seldom consistent. Sometimes the app crashes or most of the times the product is not even in stock.

But it is important to consider that people will neither only shop in-store or only shop online. Today’s consumers are hybrid people because they will go to the digital realm when it suits them and go to the physical store when that is more convenient. If online retailers for grocery would like to have permanent customers, they must develop consistent experience.

Flexibility Of Experience

The online grocery shopping warehouse operations are highly automated and advanced because their operations depend on software's. If you want to buy online grocery in Bahrain, then know that all the changes in the online grocery store should be considered. People consider the online grocery experience because they find that their experience is flexible and can be easily adjusted to what they need.

It is very likely that new grocery stores will be popping up where the entire functionality will remain online and they will allow curbside delivery. You get to do away with the delivery fee and find the convenience of shopping online. This might work for smaller areas in urban cities where the towns are small and find themselves a close-knit community. This is essential to understand when it comes to the future: online and physical stores must work together.