The demand for online grocery shopping: COVID-induced changes in grocery shopping behavior of Canadian consumers

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on many economies around the globe. One area where significant changes have been documented is consumer behavior. A questionnaire survey was carried out to understand the impact of COVID-19 on grocery purchase behavior of Canadian consumers and evaluate the permanence of these effects. With a focus on online grocery shopping, this work integrates multiple existing theories of consumer behavior to explore the influence of different factors on consumers’ adoption of online mode of grocery shopping during the pandemic and their intentions to continue the use of this mode in the post-pandemic world. A total of more than 600 usable survey responses were analyzed using statistical analysis and a Logit econometrics technique. The results reveal that 72% of the survey participants had to alter their grocery shopping habits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; 63% of these consumers claim that the changes that occurred would prevail in the future, with no return to the “pre-COVID normal”. The results also show that the pandemic resulted in significant proliferation of online grocery shopping among Canadian consumers. Further, the findings show that the important factors that explain adoption of online grocery shopping and the shift towards higher reliance on online grocery purchases in the future include the perceived threat of COVID, pre-COVID shopping habits, socio-demographic characteristics, and the variables that capture technological opportunities and abilities.