9.8% of Groceries Bought With Mobile Devices

Once upon a time, we used our mobile phones solely to make calls.

And now those super-powered devices are the launching pads to getting everything done.

Once upon a time, we got in the car and drove to the supermarket, grabbed a cart with squeaky wheels, and trudged through the aisles. Now we click through some online pages on the phone and fill up our virtual baskets. And an hour or two later, the food arrives on the doorstep.

We’re not fully there yet. Most of the browsing and buying is done on site. But as detailed in the “Digital Economy Payments: The Rise of Mobile eCommerce” report, which drew from a PYMNTS survey of 2,730 consumers, 9.8% of groceries were purchased with mobile devices, up from 5.8% at the end of last year.

The gains buck a general trend in eCommerce, where digital purchases as a share of total retail spend is down from 2020 when the pandemic was at its height and consumers were stuck at home. With non-grocery items, consumers’ in-store purchases rose to 70% of transactions in the third quarter of 2022 from 67% in Q4 2021. Transactions made with laptops and desktops dropped to 13% from 19% in that time. Mobile purchases rose to 15% from 13%, indicating that the freedom of scrolling while strolling, and buying things without being tethered to hardware, is continuing to appeal to many consumers.

Currently, mobile commerce, or mCommerce, is projected to account for 44% of all digital sales by 2025.