Online grocery sales on target to hit £1.2bn

MORE people than ever before are shopping for food online, with an extra £1.2 billion forecast to be spent doing the groceries via the internet this year.

A study reveals supermarket shopping is over for many Britons as they trade trolleys for home delivery.

The research by consumer analysts Mintel shows 29 per cent of UK online grocery shoppers are shopping for their groceries more online now than 12 months ago.

Online tills are ringing as a result, with internet grocery sales forecast on track to reach £9.8bn in 2016 – up 13 per cent from an estimated £8.6bn in 2015.

And sales are forecast to grow a further 73 per cent to reach £15bn by 2020.

But not everyone is deserting the shops with around one in four people (24 per cent) having never bought groceries online and having no interest in doing so, rising to 38 per cent among the over-55s.

And one in nine UK online grocery shoppers (11 per cent) are actually doing so less now than 12 months ago.

The study shows onlineonly grocery retailers are particularly benefiting from sofa surfing shoppers, with sales increasing 110 per cent from £1.1bn in 2010, to an estimated £2.3bn last year.

Overall, online shopping accounts for six per cent of total grocery sector sales in 2015, up from just three per cent in 2010.

Nick Carroll, retail analyst at Mintel, said: “The online grocery market continues to grow in double digits, but remains small in the context of the wider grocery market.

“However, the shift away from superstores to more convenient shopping channels is certainly benefiting the market with the majority of consumers now doing some grocery shopping online.

“Almost a third say they now shop online more than a year ago.”