eGrocers Gain Traction In A Bid To Reach Struggling Shoppers
As eGrocers try to make their services more accessible, research shows that their efforts seem to be paying off.
What’s Going On
Grocers have been working hard to get people of all income levels to use digital shopping, not just high-income people who have a safety net and can pay more for convenience.
One way they’ve been doing this is by pushing digital coupons and personalizing them based on information about customers in order to calm shoppers’ worries about prices. One way is by making it easier for them to accept Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which has more than 40 million participants.
In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, Ofek Lavian, CEO and co-founder of third-party payment processors (TPPP) Forage, which adds SNAP EBT payment capabilities to eGrocery platforms, talked about how much people want this technology.
“Instacart’s traditional consumer base is suburban, affluent, middle-aged,” Lavian said. “But what we realize is that there’s actually really strong product market fit, particularly for [SNAP recipients], because one in every four SNAP recipients is actually on some form of disability. Many of them geographically live in food deserts, [and] many of them are 1099 workers, meaning [that] every hour they’re out grocery shopping might be an hour they’re not providing for their families.”
Analyzing the Data
Changes in Grocery Shopping Habits and Perception, a recent study based on a December survey of more than 2,400 U.S. consumers, found that people who are having trouble paying their bills are most likely to only buy groceries online.
The study found that 7.2% of consumers do this, but 10.4% of people who have trouble paying their bills because they live paycheck to paycheck do the same. This share is higher than any other type of financial situation. People who don’t live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have trouble paying their bills are much less likely to buy all of their groceries online.
Also, the number of people who only buy groceries online and have trouble paying their bills because they live paycheck to paycheck has grown a lot in the past few years. It was only 0.4% before the pandemic.
