Is supermarket shopping dying?

I’ve discovered the joys of a new thing. Online grocery shopping. But I’m now in a quandary, as I actually enjoy going to the supermarket and eyeing the aubergines and seeing what’s new in the international section.

I know what you’re thinking. How have I managed to totally miss out on online grocery shopping when it’s marketed to death by the supermarkets themselves? Well, I live in a city with lots of supermarkets and dairies close by, so I just haven’t felt the need.

Seems I’m not the only one; apparently only about 3 per cent of people grocery shop online, compared with around 30 per cent of clothing and electronics sales. I was intrigued by the low take up and decided to conduct my own very unscientific research.

Step one: I talked to a small group of friends about their preferences. One, a self-confessed hater of supermarket shopping, described it as the highlight of her week when she was stuck at home with two small kids and charming young men with rippling muscles would arrive at the door bearing groceries. Seems busy mums are very much in favour of home deliveries.

Meanwhile, the ‘‘in person’’ supermarketers, like me, enjoy ambling the aisles, bumping into friends and seeing what’s new.

There was robust discussion about whether supermarkets take the opportunity of online shopping to offload wilting veg and products close to their sell-by dates, but there were views on both sides.

Step two: sign up and try it myself. My sample size was two supermarkets, New Zealand-owned New World and Aussie-owned Countdown.

My findings were that it’s incredibly easy and pretty much hassle-free. With Countdown, I’d managed to do the whole shop, from registering as a first-time user to choosing my delivery time, in about 15 minutes.The only downside is you have to place a minimum value of order of $50 and pay the seemingly standard $15 delivery fee. But given the cost of groceries, who has ever left a supermarket spending less than $50? I’ve clearly got low expectations, or need to get out more, but I was impressed Countdown offered same-day delivery on a Sunday when I placed my order at 9.30am.

Sure enough, at about 2.30pm, and within the allotted time slot, I got a phone call from a delightful courier chap called Ian, who advised me he was at my house with the groceries he was leaving on the back deck.

Two minutes later he called again saying he’d gone one better and left the groceries in the house because we’d left the backdoor wide open. He even offered to lock the house up and put the key somewhere safe. Now, that’s what I call premium service.

The whole experience was much the same with New World but its website’s a bit more clunky and there was no charming delivery man phoning me. But the groceries arrived as promised.

I’m conflicted. I have a real fear that we will more and more quickly move to online shopping for everything and shops will become a relic of the past.

Maybe it’s nostalgia but, as a teenager, hanging around the shops on a Saturday with friends is what we did, stretching our pocket money to buy lipgloss and cokes.

So despite enjoying the experience of online grocery shopping, perhaps I’ll just stick with my regular trips to my local New World as my personal investment in keeping real shops alive a bit longer.

Sue Allen has worked in journalism, communications, marketing and brand management in the UK and New Zealand.