Source: Steve Markenson, Director of Research, Food Marketing Institute

The answer to the question is – let me count the ways.

This year’s U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report takes a deep dive into the growing world of online shopping and explores how the evolving eCommerce world is changing how Americans shop for food and how that may impact food retailers. On the surface, we know that online shopping is growing. The numbers may vary, but they all point to significant growth. Trends allows us to get below the surface to understand the who, what, how and why of online shopping. Here are a few of the things we learned.

What is the market penetration of online shopping?

While 43% of shoppers have shopped online for groceries in the past year, only about half of those, or 21% of all shoppers, do so on a regular or monthly basis. Some grocery shoppers have been driven to try online shopping by promotions, advertising or even curiosity, only to revert back to their established, preferred habits of in-store food shopping. Only 10% of shoppers are frequent (at least once every two weeks) online shoppers.