COVID-19 and Retail Grocery Management: Insights from a Broad-Based Consumer Survey

Abstract

The grocery retail industry is encountering unique challenges and opportunities during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The pandemic led to various transformations in the food retail industry, including changes in consumer perception and behavior. Although the pandemic has a situational nature, these transformations could have both temporary and long-lasting effects on reforms of the grocery retail industry. We examined consumer retail grocery shopping behavior change during the pandemic using a national survey among 2500 U.S. adults. Survey results show that consumers now have higher expectations for in-store safety; they have reduced the frequency of store patronage, travel time, and in-store duration; they have shifted from regular shopping schedule and shopping destinations; and they have spent more per shopping trip. The increased spending at brick-and-mortar stores also paralleled with the expanded transactions across various types of online grocery shopping platforms. We further arrived at practical managerial implications in both the short term and long term for brick-and-mortar stores as well as online grocery vendors.