Are grocery shoppers ready for drones?
Consumers are frustrated with the grocery shopping experience and drone delivery may solve some of their pain points.
In a recent poll of 5,000 U.S. adult consumers conducted by Wing, the on-demand drone delivery provider powered by Google’s parent company Alphabet, 64% of respondents said they spend an hour or more shopping for groceries in-store and/or online each week and 62% have to make “boomerang” trips to return to the supermarket to purchase items they initially missed.
The biggest pain points for in-store grocery shoppers are crowds (45%), long lines (20%) and unavailable products (17%). The biggest pain points for respondents when getting groceries delivered are expensive pricing (37%) and unavailable products (20%).
An opening for drones?
The survey examined respondent attitudes toward grocery delivery more closely. Half of respondents overall receive grocery delivery once per week or more, including 61% of Gen Z and millennial respondents.
Eight-in-10 (81%) respondents would like the option to receive delivery of online grocery orders within 30 minutes or less, and 84% expect same-day delivery. Three-in-10 expect online grocery delivery within an hour.
Close to six-in-10 (58%) respondents said they would be likely or very likely to use drone delivery if it were available in their community, including 44% of respondents who never use online grocery delivery.
In addition, three-in-four (76%) respondents are willing to pay if grocery orders are delivered within 30 minutes. Eighty-three percent of Gen Z respondents are willing to pay — and spend more — on 30-minute delivery. That’s a higher share than any other generation.
Wing surveyed 5,000 online shoppers in July 2024, composed of a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 18-54-plus.
Online grocery sales, delivery surge
According to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopper Survey fielded Aug. 30-31, the U.S. online grocery market ended the month with $9.9 billion in sales, a 7% increase over last year as all three fulfillment methods tracked by the survey posted year-over-year sales growth.
Delivery increased 10.2% year-over-year to $3.9 billion. Ship-to-home grew 8.9% year-over-year in August to $1.8 billion, driven by significantly higher average order values. Pickup finished the month up 3.5% year-over-year to $4.3 billion.
[READ MORE: Online grocery sales rise 7% year-over-year in August]
