Browsing the Aisles or Browsing the App? How Online Grocery Shopping is Changing What We Buy

Marketing Science, forthcoming

64 Pages Posted: 29 Dec 2021 Last revised: 10 Aug 2023

See all articles by Sai Chand Chintala

Sai Chand Chintala

Cornell University

Jura Liaukonyte

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Nathan Yang

Cornell University; Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Date Written: August 3, 2023

Abstract

This paper investigates the systematic differences between online and offline grocery shopping baskets using data from approximately two million brick-and-mortar and Instacart trips. We apply unsupervised machine learning algorithms agnostic to the shopping channel to identify what constitutes a typical food shopping trip for each household. We find that food shopping basket variety is significantly lower for online shopping trips, as measured by the number of unique food categories and items purchased. Within a given household, the Instacart baskets are more similar to each other as compared to offline baskets, with twice as many overlapping items between successive trips to the same retailer. These results suggest a potential link between online grocery shopping environments and heightened consumer inertia, which may lead to stronger brand loyalty and pose challenges for new entrants in establishing a customer base. Furthermore, Instacart baskets have 13% fewer fresh vegetables and 5-7% fewer impulse purchases, such as candy, bakery desserts, and savory snacks, which are not compensated for by alternative or additional shopping trips. We discuss the implications of these systematic shopping basket differences for competition, product management, retailers, consumers, and online platforms.

Keywords: Digitization; Food Marketing; Omnichannel Retail; Grocery Industry; Variety

Suggested Citation

Chintala, Sai Chand and Liaukonyte, Jura and Yang, Nathan, Browsing the Aisles or Browsing the App? How Online Grocery Shopping is Changing What We Buy (August 3, 2023). Marketing Science, forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3992849 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3992849

Sai Chand Chintala

Cornell University ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14853
United States

Jura Liaukonyte (Contact Author)

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ( email )

Dyson School
Ithaca, NY 14850
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.JuraLiaukonyte.com

Nathan Yang

Cornell University ( email )

Dyson School, Warren Hall
360E
Ithaca, NY 14853-6201
United States
6072551590 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://dyson.cornell.edu/faculty-research/faculty/ncy6/

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14850
United States

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