Poll: 81% of Americans Say They Never Order Groceries Online

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although the internet has transformed the way people work, communicate and buy many of the products they use, groceries isn't one of them.

According to Consumption Habits, a recent survey from Gallup, 81 percent of Americans said they never order groceries online, while 11 percent said they do so at least once a month. 

Seven in 10 respondents reported sticking to the traditional methods of getting food — shopping for groceries in person at a grocery store, eating meals at restaurants and ordering food for take-out or delivery — at least once a month.

Since 2017, consumers' grocery buying habits are essentially unchanged. At the time, 84 percent said they never order groceries online and 9 percent did so at least once a month.

The slow adoption of online food ordering could indicate that consumers enjoy picking their own groceries in person, or that they don't see sufficient savings of time or money to justify the switch. The delivery charges that go along with food delivery may be a factor in that, Gallup noted.

Other findings of the Consumptions Habits survey include:

• Online grocery shopping is more common among parents and upper-income adults. Nineteen percent of those with children under age 18 order groceries online at least monthly, as do 18 percent of those with annual household incomes of $100,000 or greater.
• Americans between the ages of 30 and 49, or those who are most likely to have young children, are also among the subgroups most inclined to get groceries via the internet.
• Adults who are employed full-time (15 percent) are slightly above the national average for buying groceries online.
• In-store grocery shopping is by far the most common way Americans get food, with 83 percent saying they shop at grocery stores at least once a week, including 37 percent who do so more than once a week.

Washington, D.C.-based Gallup is a global analytics and advice firm.