IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormksc/v43y2024i3p506-522.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Browsing the Aisles or Browsing the App? How Online Grocery Shopping is Changing What We Buy

Author

Listed:
  • Sai Chand Chintala

    (SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853)

  • Jūra Liaukonytė

    (SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853)

  • Nathan Yang

    (SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853)

Abstract

This paper investigates the systematic differences between online and offline grocery shopping baskets using data from approximately two million brick-and-mortar and Instacart trips. We apply unsupervised machine learning algorithms agnostic to the shopping channel to identify what constitutes a typical food shopping trip for each household. We find that food shopping basket variety is significantly lower for online shopping trips as measured by the number of unique food categories and items purchased. Within a given household, the Instacart baskets are more similar to each other as compared with offline baskets with twice as many overlapping items between successive trips to the same retailer. These results suggest a potential link between online grocery shopping environments and heightened consumer inertia, which may lead to stronger brand loyalty and pose challenges for new entrants in establishing a customer base. Furthermore, Instacart baskets have 13% fewer fresh vegetables and 5%–7% fewer impulse purchases, such as candy, bakery desserts, and savory snacks, which are not compensated for by alternative or additional shopping trips. We discuss the implications of these systematic shopping basket differences for competition, product management, retailers, consumers, and online platforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Sai Chand Chintala & Jūra Liaukonytė & Nathan Yang, 2024. "Browsing the Aisles or Browsing the App? How Online Grocery Shopping is Changing What We Buy," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(3), pages 506-522, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:43:y:2024:i:3:p:506-522
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2022.0292
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2022.0292
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mksc.2022.0292?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elçin Ergin & Mehmet Gümüş & Nathan Yang, 2022. "An Empirical Analysis of Intra‐Firm Product Substitutability in Fashion Retailing," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(2), pages 607-621, February.
    2. Chakravarti, Amitav & Janiszewski, Chris, 2003. "The Influence of Macro-level Motives on Consideration Set Composition in Novel Purchase Situations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 244-258, September.
    3. Peter J. Danaher & Isaac W. Wilson & Robert A. Davis, 2003. "A Comparison of Online and Offline Consumer Brand Loyalty," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 461-476, February.
    4. Alejandro Zentner & Michael Smith & Cuneyd Kaya, 2013. "How Video Rental Patterns Change as Consumers Move Online," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(11), pages 2622-2634, November.
    5. Hannes Datta & George Knox & Bart J. Bronnenberg, 2018. "Changing Their Tune: How Consumers’ Adoption of Online Streaming Affects Music Consumption and Discovery," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(1), pages 5-21, January.
    6. Kapil Bawa & Robert Shoemaker, 2004. "The Effects of Free Sample Promotions on Incremental Brand Sales," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(3), pages 345-363, November.
    7. Ratchford, Brian & Soysal, Gonca & Zentner, Alejandro & Gauri, Dinesh K., 2022. "Online and offline retailing: What we know and directions for future research," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 152-177.
    8. Andrea Pozzi, 2012. "Shopping Cost and Brand Exploration in Online Grocery," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 96-120, August.
    9. Jean‐Pierre Dubé & Günter J. Hitsch & Peter E. Rossi, 2010. "State dependence and alternative explanations for consumer inertia," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(3), pages 417-445, September.
    10. Marit Hinnosaar, 2023. "The Persistence of Healthy Behaviors in Food Purchasing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(3), pages 521-537, May.
    11. Erdem, Tulin & Sun, Baohong, 2001. "Testing for Choice Dynamics in Panel Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(2), pages 142-152, April.
    12. Neslin, Scott A., 2022. "The omnichannel continuum: Integrating online and offline channels along the customer journey," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 111-132.
    13. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Jean-Pierre H. Dube & Matthew Gentzkow, 2012. "The Evolution of Brand Preferences: Evidence from Consumer Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2472-2508, October.
    14. Xitong Li & Jörn Grahl & Oliver Hinz, 2022. "How Do Recommender Systems Lead to Consumer Purchases? A Causal Mediation Analysis of a Field Experiment," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 620-637, June.
    15. Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 1998. "Inertia and Variety Seeking in a Model of Brand-Purchase Timing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 253-270.
    16. Unnati Narang & Venkatesh Shankar, 2019. "Mobile App Introduction and Online and Offline Purchases and Product Returns," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(5), pages 756-772, September.
    17. Kathleen T. Li, 2020. "Statistical Inference for Average Treatment Effects Estimated by Synthetic Control Methods," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 115(532), pages 2068-2083, December.
    18. Daniel Fleder & Kartik Hosanagar, 2009. "Blockbuster Culture's Next Rise or Fall: The Impact of Recommender Systems on Sales Diversity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(5), pages 697-712, May.
    19. Erik Brynjolfsson & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Duncan Simester, 2011. "Goodbye Pareto Principle, Hello Long Tail: The Effect of Search Costs on the Concentration of Product Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(8), pages 1373-1386, August.
    20. Katherine Harris‐Lagoudakis, 2022. "Online shopping and the healthfulness of grocery purchases," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(3), pages 1050-1076, May.
    21. Pradeep K. Chintagunta & Junhong Chu & Javier Cebollada, 2012. "Quantifying Transaction Costs in Online/Off-line Grocery Channel Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 96-114, January.
    22. Reutterer, Thomas & Platzer, Michael & Schröder, Nadine, 2021. "Leveraging purchase regularity for predicting customer behavior the easy way," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 194-215.
    23. Michael Platzer & Thomas Reutterer, 2016. "Ticking Away the Moments: Timing Regularity Helps to Better Predict Customer Activity," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(5), pages 779-799, September.
    24. Katherine Milkman & Todd Rogers & Max Bazerman, 2010. "I’ll have the ice cream soon and the vegetables later: A study of online grocery purchases and order lead time," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 17-35, March.
    25. Julia Levine & Stephan Seiler, 2022. "Identifying State Dependence in Brand Choice: Evidence from Hurricanes," CESifo Working Paper Series 9889, CESifo.
    26. Marshall Freimer & Dan Horsky, 2012. "Periodic Advertising Pulsing in a Competitive Market," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 637-648, July.
    27. Catherine Tucker & Juanjuan Zhang, 2011. "How Does Popularity Information Affect Choices? A Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(5), pages 828-842, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ratchford, Brian & Soysal, Gonca & Zentner, Alejandro, 2023. "Multichannel customer purchase behavior and long tail effects in the fashion goods market," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 46-65.
    2. Ratchford, Brian & Soysal, Gonca & Zentner, Alejandro & Gauri, Dinesh K., 2022. "Online and offline retailing: What we know and directions for future research," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 152-177.
    3. K. Sudhir & Nathan Yang, 2014. "Exploiting the Choice-Consumption Mismatch: A New Approach to Disentangle State Dependence and Heterogeneity," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1941, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    4. Yinbo Feng & Ming Hu, 2017. "Blockbuster or Niche? Competitive Strategy under Network Effects," Working Papers 17-13, NET Institute.
    5. Pozzi, Andrea, 2013. "E-commerce as a stockpiling technology: Implications for consumer savings," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 677-689.
    6. Son, Jungmin & Kim, Jikyung (Jeanne) & Choi, Jeonghye & Kim, Mingyung, 2017. "Linking online niche sales to offline brand conditions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 74-84.
    7. H. Holly Wang & Yu Jiang & Shaosheng Jin & Qiujie Zheng, 2022. "New online market connecting Chinese consumers and small farms to improve food safety and environment," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 70(4), pages 305-324, December.
    8. Tom Fangyun Tan & Serguei Netessine & Lorin Hitt, 2017. "Is Tom Cruise Threatened? An Empirical Study of the Impact of Product Variety on Demand Concentration," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 643-660, September.
    9. Tobias Kretschmer & Christian Peukert, 2020. "Video Killed the Radio Star? Online Music Videos and Recorded Music Sales," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 776-800, September.
    10. Alejandro Zentner & Michael Smith & Cuneyd Kaya, 2013. "How Video Rental Patterns Change as Consumers Move Online," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(11), pages 2622-2634, November.
    11. Meiseberg, Brinja, 2016. "The Effectiveness of E-tailers’ Communication Practices in Stimulating Sales of Niche versus Popular Products," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 319-332.
    12. Yongjin Park & Youngsok Bang & Jae-Hyeon Ahn, 2020. "How Does the Mobile Channel Reshape the Sales Distribution in E-Commerce?," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 1164-1182, December.
    13. Santiago Gallino & Antonio Moreno & Ioannis Stamatopoulos, 2017. "Channel Integration, Sales Dispersion, and Inventory Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(9), pages 2813-2831, September.
    14. Kretschmer, Tobias & Peukert, Christian, 2014. "Video killed the radio star? Online music videos and digital music sales," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60276, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Weeds, Helen, 2012. "Superstars and the long tail: The impact of technology on market structure in media industries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 60-68.
    16. Bart Bronnenberg & Jean-Pierre H. Dubé & Robert E. Sanders, 2018. "Consumer Misinformation and the Brand Premium: A Private Label Blind Taste Test," NBER Working Papers 25214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Avi Goldfarb & Ryan C. McDevitt & Sampsa Samila & Brian S. Silverman, 2015. "The Effect of Social Interaction on Economic Transactions: Evidence from Changes in Two Retail Formats," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2963-2981, December.
    18. Gambato, Jacopo & Sandrini, Luca, 2023. "Not as good as it used to be: Do streaming platforms penalize quality?," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-032, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Tim Meyer & Anna Kerkhof & Carmelo Cennamo & Tobias Kretschmer, 2022. "Competing for Attention on Information Platforms: The Case of News," CESifo Working Paper Series 9832, CESifo.
    20. Karl Taeuscher, 2019. "Uncertainty kills the long tail: demand concentration in peer-to-peer marketplaces," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(4), pages 649-660, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:43:y:2024:i:3:p:506-522. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.