SPECIAL REPORT: A New Era in Grocery Shopping

Survey Explores Shopper Attitudes & Behaviors Toward Buying Groceries Online

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Sep 23, 2015, 12:45 ET

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Sept. 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Field Agent today released a Special Report highlighting changes in the grocery industry, including the trends toward online and mobile ordering, grocery delivery, and, in particular, grocery pickup. The mobile market research company in September surveyed more than 500 shoppers to understand the changes occurring in the industry, purely from the shopper's point of view. Get the full report, entitled Groceries 2.0: The Rise of Online Grocery Shopping.

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Walmart Pickup. Amazon Fresh. Google Express. These days, it seems with each passing week there's another announcement—or another rumor—about a major company utilizing web-based methods to sell groceries to hungry shoppers. We are now entering the Groceries 2.0 era, as grocers become the latest industry to adapt new technologies to serve their customers.

"The e-commerce scene has rapidly changed our shopping habits and even our lifestyle through the accessibility of products," said Rick West, CEO and Co-founder of Field Agent. "We're excited to present how e-commerce is changing the grocery industry, what consumers are thinking now and what it means for the future of grocery shopping. Our proprietary mobile technology made it possible to conduct surveys and shop-alongs in the handful of cities where new grocery pickup and delivery methods are presently being tested."

The report revealed that 75 percent of shoppers agreed with the statement: "I want retailers to develop alternatives to traditional, in-store grocery shopping." Also, when asked "What is the likelihood you will use a grocery pickup service in the future," 70 percent responded they are at least moderately likely to use a pickup service.

Despite the positive reactions to changes in grocery shopping, there are challenges to the real world implementation of grocery. Shoppers said having someone else pick out your groceries, especially fresh produce, is a major hurdle to overcome. As one shopper from Mesa, AZ said, "Although it sounds like a good concept, the inability to touch and see the final product is the main reason I would not use [online grocery pickup/delivery]."

Field Agent also recruited nearly 40 agents to purchase groceries through Walmart's pickup service. Ultimately they wanted to see participants complete the three-stage process of shopping with Walmart Pickup: (1) shopping for groceries online; (2) retrieving groceries from a curbside pickup location; and (3) unbagging the groceries at home. View two of these shopping trips by video on the Field Agent blog.

About Field Agent: Headquartered in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Field Agent leverages its network of nearly 600,000 Agents to connect business people with quality information anywhere across the nation.

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Cory Nelson
Field Agent^®(479) 755-4499
[email protected]

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