According to marketing psychology speaker Johnson, grocery stores are in a difficult spot due to how inflation continues to impact consumer spending on essential items. "However, despite the increasing popularity of grocery deliveries for their convenience, there are still several potential advantages to shopping for groceries in person for the average American," he told Bored Panda via email.

"One key advantage is the ability to personally select fresh produce, meat, and other perishable items, ensuring they meet specific preferences for ripeness, quality, and expiration dates. Additionally, shopping in person allows for greater control over the selection process, enabling shoppers to compare prices, explore new products, and take advantage of in-store promotions and discounts," Johnson said.

"Moreover, shopping in person can provide a sensory experience that online shopping cannot replicate, such as the ability to smell and touch products, which can enhance the overall shopping experience and potentially lead to more satisfying purchases. Lastly, for some individuals, especially those without reliable internet access or who prefer face-to-face interactions, shopping in person may be a more accessible and social experience."

Johnson noted that it is difficult for newcomers to stand out in the "fiercely competitive" grocery delivery business. "Since Amazon is already an established player, trying to compete on convenience and variety is not a viable option. Instead, newcomers can stand out by focusing on niche markets or specialized products: you don't need to be the best for everything, but, especially in the beginning, you need to be the best at something," he explained to us.

"Newcomers can also leverage their relationships with local producers or farmers for fresh and sustainable products, which larger, existing players often overlook. Given the maturity of the market and the strength of existing players, newcomers face an uphill battle, but by going niche—either through their offerings or through their local relationships—new entrants may be able to carve out a distinctive position in the market and attract a loyal customer base." For more in-depth insights about human psychology, feel free to read Johnson's branding and human nature blogs.

The ‘Instacart Shoppers’ online community currently has 164k members. Many of them have lots of stories—from good and funny to bad and downright weird—to share about working at the company. Many of them feature peculiar customer behavior or requests. The subreddit is a window into what life as a shopper can actually be like.

‘Instacart’ was founded way back in June 2012. Over the course of a decade, the San Francisco-based grocery delivery and pick-up service has become well-established in the United States and Canada. The idea behind the service is that personal shoppers get all the goods the customers order from the participating retail shops. 

At the time of writing, ‘Instacart’ has partnerships with 1,400 retail banners with 80,000 stores. In 2022 alone, the company fulfilled a jaw-dropping 262.6 million orders worth $28.8 billion. The average customer order was worth around $110. With so much revenue, it’s no wonder that the company has been expanding.

‘Instacart’ has been gobbling up many different e-commerce-related companies in recent years. These include white-label grocer platform ‘Unata’ in 2018 for $65 million, smart cart and checkout company ‘Caper AI’ in 2021 for $350 million, AI pricing platform ‘Eversight’ in 2022, as well as e-commerce platform ‘Rosie’ in the same year.

Grocery delivery services have become absolutely massive in recent years. It’s safe to say that they’re now mainstream in many parts of the world, not just in developed nations but in emerging economies, too. According to Statista, 60% of respondents from India said that they used grocery deliveries.

Meanwhile, according to data collected by Statista, 52% of people living in Mexico and South Korea also use grocery delivery services. Brits are huge on deliveries, as well! A whopping 49% now order groceries. Meanwhile, around 40% of Americans do the same. However, Japan and Switzerland are among the developed nations that still haven’t embraced this shift in shopping. Only 20% and 10% of respondents, respectively, said they use these sorts of services.

It’s expected that food and beverage retail e-commerce revenue will exceed $47 billion in the US alone in 2025. Aside from ‘Instacart,’ Americans mainly rely on ‘Kroger,’ ‘Walmart,’ ‘HelloFresh,’ and ‘Amazon.’

“Despite the blaring success of grocery retailers in the online sector, they face the growing competition of new players delivering meal kits and ready meals. The food service platform Instacart was the most visited groceries website in May 2022, accounting for over eight percent of web traffic,” Statista reports on the rise of ‘Instacart.’

For most people, the main upside of getting their groceries delivered, as opposed to shopping in person at their local retailers, is saving time. Something else that customers value is that they can avoid making impulse purchases because they’re ordering everything online in advance.

What’s your relationship with grocery deliveries like, dear Pandas? Do you prefer to order your groceries online, or do you like going to stores in person? Do you think that we’re all going to become more and more reliant on deliveries in the future? Share your thoughts in the comments!