Online shopping habits may hinder the introduction of new products

Nutritionally, though, online shopping baskets had 13% fewer fresh vegetables. But, at the same time, online shoppers made up to 7% fewer impulse purchases – such as sweets, baked goods and chips.

These systematic shopping pattern differences can have implications for consumers as well as retailers.

“This affects a lot of things – how brands are competing [and] how grocery markets are competing,” researcher Jura Liaukonyte said.

“There’s a new equilibrium. Online shopping penetration has increased significantly [and] while it is not as high as it was during the peak of Covid, it remains considerably higher than pre-pandemic levels.”

For this work, the authors examined data by Numerator, a market research company that analyses brick-and-mortar store purchases, as well as online purchases from the same participants. 

The researchers’ algorithm looked at three years’ worth of grocery purchases from 4,388 participants to get a sense of their typical in-store and online carts.

They discovered a few key differences:

• Online basket variety is around 10% lower compared to brick-and-mortar basket variety within the same household.

• Online shopping trips are 27% more similar to each other than offline trips within the same household when comparing categories.

• The number of overlapping items in online shopping baskets is more than double that of in-store carts when comparing items across successive trips to the same store.

One reason for the reduced variety in online baskets, the researchers suggest, is the ‘buy it again’ feature available on many online shopping apps.

Explanation aligns with observations

“We can’t definitively say that this is the precise reason the online carts are more similar, as we cannot directly observe users utilising this feature,” researcher Nathan Yang said. “However, it’s an explanation that aligns with our observations and informal conversations with consumers about their [online] shopping habits.”

Overall, Liaukonyte noted, the findings of the paper indicate that there might be greater consumer loyalty and inertia when shopping online.

“If we don’t pay attention, we might fall into [the habit] of repeatedly buying the same items online. This seemingly simple online convenience could make us less sensitive to price changes and limit product discovery, enhancing the pricing power of existing brands.”

Researcher Sai Chand Chintala adds that the heightened brand loyalty and consumer inertia could make it difficult for new brands and products to enter the market.

“Industry reports suggest that if a product isn’t in a person’s cart by their first five or six online orders, it’s very unlikely that the product will ever make it in,” he said. “This highlights the importance for brands to advertise early on to ensure they are top-of-mind for consumers and make their way into their baskets.”

Yang noted that traditional in-store promotional strategies, like product displays and samples for product discovery, don’t translate seamlessly to online settings.

“Brands need to rethink their online product introduction methods, potentially leaning more on sponsored listings to ensure visibility,” he said. “The long-term impact of these trends on online grocery shopping remains to be seen.”

You can find out more about the research here.