Are Online Grocery Sales About to Take Off?

While grocery sales have been slower than other retail categories in moving online, a recent forecast by Kantar Retail suggests that we might see some significant movement over the next few years. Having grown from $3 billion to $20 billion between 2009 and 2017, Kantar expects online food and alcohol sales to grow by another $35 billion within the next four years to reach $55 billion by 2021.

The market research firm explains its optimism with respect to online grocery sales with a grown familiarity with online shopping in general among consumers: “shoppers have already moved online for nonconsumables, so moving online for consumables is a natural next step”. Another factor contributing to the adoption of online food shopping is probably the growing number of retailers and internet start-ups offering online food delivery. With services such as Amazon Fresh, Blue Apron and Seamless, consumers need nothing more than a smartphone to get fed these days.