Millennials increase online grocery while Gen Z pushes back

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Online grocery shopping may have picked up during the global pandemic, but as consumers get back to brick-and-mortar, news and analysis company PYMNTS looked at the behaviors of two groups of shoppers and their online spending habits. 

When it comes to buying groceries online, Millennials are increasing their digital engagement and spend, while Gen Z is pulling back on this trend. More specifically, Millennials have increased year-over-year 10% when it comes to online grocery spending, as well as 15% among bridge Millennials. 

Gen Z, however, has decreased digital engagement by 10% over the same period. The study reports that if grocers want to win Gen Z consumers back to their digital channels they may want to consider convenience.  

The survey of more than 2,400 U.S. consumers revealed that 45% of Gen Z consumers cite convenience as a key reason for shifting to digital for groceries, a far greater share than any other factor (i.e. high prices/lack of deals, fear of getting sick, low-quality customer service, etc.). 

Related:Baby Boomers, Gen Z have different grocery habits during time of inflation

However, some grocers believe that there are drawbacks to driving online grocery adoption. In particular, Walmart shared that the rise in online grocery sales could negatively impact the company’s ability to drive sales across retail categories, according to  its 2023 annual report. 

“A greater concentration of ecommerce sales, including increasing online grocery sales, could result in a reduction in the amount of traffic in our stores and clubs,” the retailer stated, “which would, in turn, reduce the opportunities for cross-store or cross-club sales of merchandise that such traffic creates and could reduce our sales within our stores and clubs and materially adversely affect our financial performance.”