A Click Too Far From Fresh Foods
Report Publish Date: August 1, 2022
This journal article describes a study of low-income grocery shoppers’ experiences buying groceries online.
The biggest barriers to families shopping for groceries online were fees and poor online food selection. Families who had shopped for groceries online before reported a better experience than families who had never used online grocery sites. Those who had grocery shopped online before also were less likely to say there were barriers to buying groceries online. Families bought less fresh produce, meat and seafood, and sweets when shopping online than they did when they shopped at a grocery store.
Online grocery shopping may be a way to help families who don’t have easy access to grocery stores and fresh produce. An online purchasing pilot tested the use of SNAP benefits to buy groceries online. The authors wanted to know whether previous experience buying groceries online made people feel more positive about online shopping for food. They also wanted to know if shoppers bought healthier food online than they did when they went to the grocery store.
The authors expected families that had ordered groceries online in the past would be more positive about online grocery shopping and report fewer barriers, compared to families who had never shopped for food online. The researchers also expected online grocery shopping to lead families to buy healthier food, compared to when they shopped in person.
Between November 2020 and March 2021, the researchers surveyed and interviewed Marylanders who were the main grocery shoppers in households with at least one child who was eight years old or younger. Respondents had income at 130% of the federal poverty level or below and were recruited on Facebook. The final sample included 310 survey responses and 42 focus group participants.
“Qualitative data from the present study suggest that families make fewer impulse purchases online compared to in-store, particularly when shopping with young children.”
—Angela C.B. Trude, Joy M. Lloyd-Montgomery, Erin R. Hager, and Maureen M. Black, University of Maryland; Shahmir H. Ali, New York University; Caitlin M. Lowery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Gabriela M. Vedovato, Federal University of Sao Paolo.
With lower delivery fees and better online food selection, families who have limited access to healthy food could benefit more from online grocery shopping, the authors say.
A recent policy in the U.S. authorized monthly benefits from a nutrition assistance program—Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—to be used online to increase grocery access and promote healthy eating. This study examined online grocery attitudes and purchasing behaviors among low-income SNAP-eligible households with young children with and without online grocery experience. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used, including a survey informed by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and focus groups conducted between November–March 2021. In the quantitative phase, 310 Maryland residents completed an online survey assessing TPB constructs (attitudes, social norms, perceived control), and food purchase frequency online and in-store. Subsequently, 42 participated in the qualitative phase. Differences in TPB constructs and food purchases were compared between families with and without online grocery experience. Online food selection and fees were a common obstacle to online grocery purchasing. Families who had purchased groceries online (57%) had more positive attitudes and perceived fewer barriers to online shopping than those who had not. Self-reported frequency of buying fresh produce (OR = 0.34, p < 0.001), meat and seafood (OR = 0.29, p < 0.001), and sweets (OR = 0.54, p = 0.005) were lower online than in-store. Families discussed mistrust of online hired shoppers and fewer impulse purchases online as reasons for less frequent purchases of produce and sweets, respectively. Successful scale-up of the U.S. policy must address barriers to healthier purchasing behaviors to effectively promote equitable food access, such as decreasing delivery fees and improving the online food selection.
Appetite, August 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106038
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
