Online groceries click with more over-55s
THE number of over-55s who are doing their grocery shopping online has trebled since the lockdown started.
Before the pandemic, eight per cent of the age group were regularly buying food online – compared with 23 per cent now.
The survey by OnePoll, for Waitrose, also found 74 per cent of over-55s had done at least some food shopping online this year, while last year the figure was 47 per cent.
Waitrose executive director James Bailey said: “Even before the pandemic, there are few retailers that wouldn’t have predicted the continued growth of e-commerce relative to physical shops. But what would have previously been a gradual upward climb in demand has – with the outbreak of Covid-19 – turned into a trajectory more reminiscent of scaling Everest.”
Of the 2,000 people quizzed, two in three said they were shopping online to avoid having to go into stores.
The research also showed online wine orders have doubled, with 17 per cent of people buying more bottles than before the pandemic hit. A quarter of all online booze
was bought between 11am and noon for later the same day. Meanwhile, the most popular time for all Waitrose website visits was between 9am and noon on Thursdays.
Some 44 per cent said they avoided products with a lot of packaging and 30 per cent bought British whenever they could.
And 40 per cent of online shoppers think they will continue to buy groceries via the internet once the pandemic is over.
Mr Bailey said: “Because online shopping quickly becomes habitual, these changes are irreversible. Shopping behaviours have changed profoundly.”