Dive Brief:

• A newly released Morning Consult report found that remote workers are nearly twice as likely to order groceries online compared to office workers.
• While remote and hybrid would seemingly have more flexibility to shop in person, Morning Consult’s findings determined they were far more likely to buy groceries online than in-person workers. 
• The findings come at a time when workplace changes and return-to-work policies are impacting people’s schedules and habits like grocery shopping.  

Dive Insight:

Remote workers are 25% more likely to order groceries online at least once weekly, while hybrid workers are 31% more likely to do so despite those groups potentially having more time for the errand of shopping for groceries, according to the Morning Consult report.

By comparison, in-person workers are only 14% as likely to order groceries online at least weekly. 

In addition to purchasing groceries through online channels more frequently, roughly 70% of remote and 66% of hybrid workers claim they got all or most of their groceries this way while only 44% of in-person workers rely on online grocery shopping for the bulk of their groceries. In addition, remote and hybrid workers typically turn to apps for grocery shopping as well as meal planning, the report noted. 

The Morning Consult report says these results are partially demographically driven as remote and hybrid workers are most often parents and high-income individuals — demographics that lean the most towards online grocery delivery.

Shoppers’ daily schedules are another factor the report considers, specifically in terms of car travel. Workers already set up at home find it more convenient to have their groceries delivered than to make a separate trip out, according to the report. 

While a number of consumers continue to rely on online grocery shopping, grocery e-commerce sales dropped 7.6%, to $8 billion, in March, according to Brick Meets Click and Mercatus findings released last week. This decline is largely due to inflation still having a tight grip on shoppers and their buying habits.

Of the households that placed online grocery orders for pickup or delivery, 44% stated that “not paying more than necessary” was a key factor in determining the service used, per the Brick Meets Click and Mercatus report.