The path to purchase for consumer packaged goods has become a lot more complex in the last decade as digital technologies have provided shoppers with an ever-growing supply of touchpoints and sales channels for learning about, and buying, products.
Aisles Options
Exclusive Path to Purchase Institute research finds that even the best-laid shopping plans can be swayed in-store.
SPECIAL REPORT:
Grocery Trip Purchase Influences
While physical stores continue to dominate as the destination of choice, supermarkets no longer corner the market on grocery trips like they once did. Still, the “OG” channel was the chosen format for 55% of shoppers, followed by mass merchants at 27%.
1. CHANNELS OF CHOICE
Supermarket
Mass
Club
Dollar
Online-only Retailer
Online Delivery Service
Drugstore
Convenience
Other
55%
27%
5%
3%
3%
2%
1%
1%
7%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55%
2. RETAILERS OF CHOICE
And by “mass merchant,” we mean “Walmart.” The world’s largest retailer gained 23% of all the shopping trips captured in the survey, the latest evidence of its superiority in the CPG world. The only other retailer getting more than 10% of the action was Kroger, which earned 11% across its flagship, Harris Teeter, King Soopers and Smith’s chains. Walmart’s nearest mass- merchant rival, Target, trailed by 300 shoppers.
23%
Q: From which type of store did you make your most recent grocery purchase?
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
Walmart
11%
Kroger
(net)
8%
Kroger
6%
Albertsons
(net)*
5%
Ahold Delhaize (net)
4%
Aldi
4%
Publix
3%
Costco
3%
Amazon
3. GENERAL GROCERY TRIP BEHAVIOR
Asked where their most recent effort to buy groceries took place, 86% of respondents said the brick-and-mortar store. That leaves 14% of shoppers who made their most recent grocery purchase online. Within that latter group, 60% opted to take complete advantage of the channel by fulfilling their order through home delivery.
Among the 40% who instead ventured to the store to pick up their items, 28% used the opportunity to keep shopping in the store — and not just to quickly grab milk or eggs, apparently: the average purchase was an additional 7.2 items.
Q: From which retailer did you make your most recent grocery purchase?
Albertsons, Food Lion, H-E-B, Safeway, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods, Target, Sam’s Club, Dollar General
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
Giant, Harris Teeter, Jewel-Osco, King Soopers, Shaw’s, Smith’s, Vons, Walgreens, 7-Eleven, Instacart
2%:
PURCHASE METHOD
METHOD OF FULFILLMENT
IN-STORE PURCHASES DURING ONLINE PICKUP*
*Q: When you went to the store to pick up your order, did you go into the store to pick up any extra items?
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
additional items purchased when picking up online order
Average= 7.2
In-store
Delivery
Pick-up curbside
Pick-up in-store
Online
78%
Yes
No
8%
32%
60%
28%
86%
14%
4. PRE-GROCERY TRIP ACTIVITY
Pre-trip planning is, naturally, common for grocery trips that encompass significantly large basket sizes in most cases. More than half of all shoppers (online or in-store) assessed their inventory beforehand, and 44% prepared a written shopping list. That behavior is much more likely among in-store shoppers than it is for their online counterparts — who, quite logically, are instead creating digital lists.
Similarly, and not surprisingly, pre-trip behavior does vary substantially between online and in-store shoppers. The online cohort is far more likely to conduct “research” by checking out ratings and reviews, comparing prices, searching for recipes, specifically looking for product information or scanning the digital circular. In general, online shoppers do more planning than their brick-and- mortar brethren, who only undertook two other behaviors more often: reading print circulars and collecting print coupons.
Checked inventory at home
Added items to a written shopping list
Reviewed a printed store flyer
Looked at a store flyer online
Looked at and/or clipped digital/online coupons
Added items to my digital/online shopping list
Looked at the retailer’s website*
Cut out/collected physical coupons
Looked online for recipes
Compared prices across different store flyers
Looked through recipes in cookbooks or recipe cards
Did price comparisons online
Looked at the retailer’s app*
Looked online to browse/shop*
Got recommendations from family/friends
Did a Google or other browser search
Researched brand/variety/flavor online
Reviewed product ratings/reviews online
None of the above
Q: Which of the following did you do before or during your grocery shopping ‘trip’?
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
1%:
5. INFLUENCE OF PRE-TRIP ACTIVITIES ON FINAL PURCHASE DECISIONS
Although almost none of the actions in this chart were employed by a majority of shoppers (aside from the pantry check), they all had a significant effect on the ultimate purchase decisions of those who did partake. At least 40% of shoppers claimed “a lot of influence” from any of the activities they undertook, which suggests that these behaviors are likely habits that have already proved to be helpful.
21%
74%
44%
40%
41%
49%
65%
51%
46%
Q: How much influence did each activity have on your final purchase decisions?
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
Inventory at Home (n=555)
Written Shopping List (n=440)
Physical Coupons (n=154)
Online Recipe Search (n=141)
Recommendations from Family/Friends (n=93)
Digital/Online Shopping List (n=194)
Researching Brand/Variety/Flavor Online (n=85)
Digital/Online Coupons (n=200)
Printed Store Flyer (n=271)
Price Comparisons Using Store Flyers (n=137)
Cookbooks or Recipe Cards (n=127)
Online Price Comparisons (n=134)
Product Ratings/Reviews Online (n=70)
“Pre-shopping” Online (n=90)
Store Flyer Online (n=242)
Google or Other Browser Search (n=85)
23%
77%
52%
52%
51%
52%
47%
45%
49%
45%
57%
44%
50%
44%
48%
43%
44%
43%
49%
40%
66%
40%
66%
A little
A lot
6. PRE-PURCHASE MEDIA EXPOSURE
Q: How were you exposed to the products that you purchased before or during your most recent shopping trip?
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
Were exposed to the products they purchased before or during their shopping trip
7. BASKET SIZE FOR MOST RECENT GROCERY TRIP
Q: How many products did you purchase overall during your most recent trip?
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
Total (n=1,000)
In-store (n=856)
Online (n=144)
40%
30%
18%
11%
1%
41%
30%
18%
10%
1%
37%
28%
15%
18%
1%
23.3
23.7
20.7
Average
>20
11-20
6-10
2-5
1
8. LEVEL OF UNPLANNED PURCHASES, BY TYPE
Different Brand
Q: Approximately how many of the products you purchased were…
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
Substitution/
Alternate Product
Different Variety/Size
Larger Quantity
Unplanned
Product
39%
31%
39%
43%
62%
Total Shoppers Making Unplanned Purchases
78%
9. PURCHASE VARIATION TRIGGERS
46%
40%
32%
30%
27%
21%
19%
19%
15%
Q: For which of the following reasons did you purchase products/brands/varieties that you hadn’t intended to buy?
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
Other product was on sale
Planned product was out of stock
Special offer
Endcap display*
Recommended by website/app during checkout**
Coupon
Store flyer/ad
Secondary display*
Personalized offer
Shelf sign*
Attractive packaging
Advertised on website/app
Recipe specification
Sign in store (not at shelf)*
Store associate recommendation
Sweepstakes opportunity
Floor decal*
Free sample in store*
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
15%
12%
11%
11%
12%
9%
6%
7%
7%
Q: What aspects of the sign/display attracted you to purchase the other product/brand/variety? (N=355)
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
10. ATTRIBUTES OF SIGNS/DISPLAYS INFLUENCING UNPLANNED PURCHASES
Product Price
Realized I needed the product
Size of display
(caught my eye)
Graphics/
Imagery
Color(s)
Influenced by a sign/display
51%
46%
50%
27%
17%
15%
Q: Where in the store did you see the display for the product you purchased? (N=160)
Source: “Grocery Trip Purchase Influences” (Path to Purchase Institute, March 2021)
11. LOCATION OF DISPLAYS INFLUENCING UNPLANNED PURCHASE
40%
40%
29%
25%
22%
20%
18%
18%
17%
7%
Display in aisle with similar products
Display at end of aisle
Display in aisle with different products
Near fresh/prepared foods
Store entrance
Near front of store (excluding checkout)
Checkout counter/line
Seasonal aisle
Near back of store
Near pharmacy/pharmacy counter
Total
Supermarket
(n=70)
Mass
(n=32)
44%
40%
21%
24%
20%
16%
13%
13%
21%
7%
41%
47%
25%
31%
19%
22%
25%
25%
12%
9%
That final fact is derived directly from the findings of the Path to Purchase Institute’s latest proprietary research, which surveyed 1,000 consumers from across the U.S. about their most recent trip to buy groceries.
While the shopper commerce industry has been – quite understandably – focused on the pandemic-fueled shift to online shopping and ordering that has taken place since March 2020 and the corresponding rise in importance of retail media networks within the marketing playbook, the traditional store clearly remains the destination of choice for most grocery needs and very fertile ground for influencing purchase decisions.
Nearly all trips to buy groceries are now influenced to some degree by the use of these digital technologies.
Despite those two facts, product marketers still have plenty of opportunities to influence purchase decisions within the brick-and-mortar store – where the vast majority of grocery trips are still taking place.
of grocery trips take place in a physical store.
86%
Fast Fact
FACT:
FACT:
FACT:
of BOPIS/curbside shoppers purchased
more products when they got to the store.
28%
62%
of grocery shoppers bought products they didn’t intend to buy.
of all shoppers changed their purchase plans after encountering sales on alternative products.
46%
Displays and signs inspired unplanned purchases for
46%
of in-store shoppers.
of shoppers who made an unplanned purchase will consider buying the alternative product again.
90%
View the full report
In cooperation with:
SCROLL
DOWN
BACK TO TOP
of
*asked among shoppers that shopped in store or picked up order in store (n=678)
**asked among shoppers that shopped online only (n=116)
*Asked of in-store shoppers only (n=856)
In cooperation with