‘Healthier options tend to get lost in the noise of online’ – Australian shoppers’ experiences with online grocery platforms

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to understand what influences parents’ purchasing behaviours when shopping for groceries online, and potential ways to improve the healthiness of online grocery platforms. Design: We conducted semi-structured interviews, guided by the Marketing Mix framework. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Setting: Online interviews were conducted with primary grocery shoppers. Participants: Parents (n=14) or caregivers (n=2) using online grocery platforms at least every two weeks. Results: Most participants perceived purchasing healthy food when shopping for groceries online to be more challenging compared to in physical stores. They expressed concerns about the prominence of online marketing for unhealthy food. Participants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often depended on online supermarket catalogues to find price promotions, but healthy options at discounted prices were limited. Across socioeconomic groups, fresh items like meat and fruit were preferred to be purchased instore due to concerns about online food quality. Participants believed online grocery platforms should make healthy foods more affordable and supported regulations on supermarket retailers to promote healthy options and limit unhealthy food promotion online. Conclusions: Participants had varied experiences with online grocery shopping, with both positive and negative aspects. Efforts to improve population diets need to include mechanisms to create health-enabling online grocery retail platforms. Government interventions to restrict marketing of unhealthy foods and promote marketing of healthy options on these platforms warrants investigation.