Convenience-Seeking Consumers Demand eGrocery Options From an Everyday App

As convenience-oriented consumers look for a single, unified app to manage their daily tasks, they want their everyday apps to include online grocery shopping options more than any other feature.

What different personas want in an everyday app

By the Numbers

For the study “Consumer Interest in an Everyday App,” PYMNTS Intelligence surveyed more than 3,300 consumers in the United States and Australia to understand how they rely on apps for their various daily activities and to gauge their interest in an everyday app.

Convenience-focused consumers, which represented a plurality of those surveyed (31% of U.S. and 25% of Australian consumers) are those who want an everyday app to integrate all their key activities, making their lives easier. The study’s results revealed that, among this group, the single most in-demand feature from an everyday app is the ability to shop for groceries, with 100% of those in this persona group reporting that they would like the option.

The Data in Context

eGrocery platforms can grow into something more like an everyday app.

Instacart could become an everyday shopping platform,” PYMNTS’ Karen Webster observed in a feature over the summer.

“That may not be much of a stretch for Instacart, since adding non-grocery brands seems to be part of their strategy,” she added. “Neither could be adding pharmacy options using some of the new HealthTech platforms that are innovating in this space. Or embedding subscription or replenishment options for frequently purchased products from the grocery stores and retailers consumers shop for on their platform.”

As it is, consumers are turning to digital platforms where they engage in non-grocery activities to buy more groceries as well. On Amazon’s latest earnings call Feb. 1, CEO Andy Jassy noted that the company already captures many consumers’ nonperishable grocery spending.

“It’s a big business, and it’s continuing to grow at a very healthy clip, and we’re really pleased,” Jassy said at the time.