{"id":2016,"date":"2021-04-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/advantage-360\/how-online-grocery-platforms-can-harness-the-impulse-buy\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T18:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:24:19","slug":"how-online-grocery-platforms-can-harness-the-impulse-buy","status":"publish","type":"mrktblog-posts","link":"https:\/\/youradv.com\/mrktblog\/how-online-grocery-platforms-can-harness-the-impulse-buy\/","title":{"rendered":"How Online Grocery Platforms Can Harness the Impulse Buy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You stack your last grocery on the conveyor belt at the checkout line when something catches your eye \u2014 a bag of M&#038;Ms. M&#038;Ms weren\u2019t on your grocery list but you figure, \u201cEh, why not?\u201d Before you know it, you\u2019ve added two bags of M&#038;Ms, three packs of gum and a Milky Way to your cart.<\/p>\n<h2>Unlocking Hidden Revenue in Online Grocery Shopping<\/h2>\n<p>Impulse purchases of candy, gum, mints and other items made at the checkout have fallen dramatically in the past year as more people move to online grocery shopping.<\/p>\n<p>Last May, U.S. sales of mints were down <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/05\/28\/sales-of-impulse-buy-items-dip-as-social-distancing-alters-checkout-lines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">30%<\/a> year over year, while gum sales fell down <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/05\/28\/sales-of-impulse-buy-items-dip-as-social-distancing-alters-checkout-lines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">28%<\/a>, according to Nielsen. And it\u2019s not just brands that are suffering; grocery stores miss impulse purchases too. Pre-pandemic, impulse sales accounted for up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.handystorefixtures.com\/blog\/impulse-buying-statistics-every-retailer-should-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">20%<\/a> of in-store purchases.<\/p>\n<p>The massive groundswell in the online grocery shopping movement has been a win for many. Startups like Instacart and FreshDirect keep consumers happy with easy ordering and contactless pickup, while grocery stores continue to profit off wary consumers avoiding in-store shopping. Yet a huge opportunity is left sitting at the checkout line. Online grocery platforms need to recognize this blind spot and recreate the impulse buy experience for digital shoppers.<\/p>\n<p>Humans are notoriously bad with self-restraint. Even armed with a precise grocery list, most in-store shoppers will end up with dozens of impulse-buy items by the time they hit the checkout. But online grocery platforms could do a better job fueling the impulse purchase fire in shoppers. Only one-third of digital grocery shoppers say they make an unplanned purchase every time they shop online or with an app, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youradv.com.advantage-360\/Spontaneous-Sales-Why-Grocery-Shoppers-Are-Making-Unplanned-Purchases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a survey by Advantage Solutions and Suzy Inc.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A potential goldmine awaits online grocery platforms that motivate more impulse buys using innovative new features and technology. And cashing in on this goldmine wouldn\u2019t only benefit the retailers; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.goodeggs.com\/blog\/online-grocery-habits-survey-results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">62% of consumers<\/a> say they miss discovering items not on their list while shopping online.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Benefit from Shopper\u2019s Impulses<\/h2>\n<h2>The key to successfully harnessing a shopper\u2019s impulses is all about spontaneity. The 90-second checkout window is the prime time to capitalize on last-minute purchases.<\/h2>\n<p>Take Kroger, for example. Kroger\u2019s site displays a list of \u201ctop picks\u201d at checkout, highlighting seasonal items and sale items meant to drive impulse purchases. Instacart has a message pop up right before a shopper clicks \u201cplace your order\u201d that asks, \u201cIs there anything you\u2019re missing?\u201d before offering its top recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>But there are plenty of retailers ignoring the impulse buy. The checkout screen for one large U.S. grocery banner recommended nothing to me. Same with its sister banner. Where was the gum? Where was the recommended hummus to go with my lonely pita chips?<\/p>\n<p>Checkout isn\u2019t the only time to capitalize on impulse buys. The brief window <em>after<\/em> a customer has completed a purchase is an excellent opportunity to trigger an impulse buy. Amazon is an expert at this post-checkout tactic, popping up multiple \u201cRecommended Items\u201d features and the infamous \u201cFrequently Bought Together\u201d column. This is an advantage online grocery platforms have over their in-store counterparts \u2014 in-store customers will rarely loop back in and reenter the store, while an online customer can easily create a new cart and check out within minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Online grocery shopping purchases are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/chloesorvino\/2021\/01\/27\/instacart-survived-covid-chaos---but-can-it-keep-delivering-after-the-pandemic\/?sh=272f9e32bfa1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more than triple what they were at the end of 2019.<\/a> Even as the vaccine is rolled out, many shoppers will stick with their new online grocery habit \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/barbstuckey\/2020\/10\/02\/online-grocery-shopping-will-continue-post-covid-says-data-from-online-grocer-good-eggs\/?sh=45404c40755b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">81%<\/a> of consumers say they plan to continue buying groceries online. The platforms that innovate checkout flow to capitalize on the impulse buy will significantly improve revenue for everyone in the value chain.<\/p>\n<p>The online grocery surge is a call to arms for these platforms to fuel spontaneity and impulse \u2014 and let human behavior take it from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You stack your last grocery on the conveyor belt at the checkout line when something catches your eye \u2014 a bag of M&#038;Ms. M&#038;Ms weren\u2019t on your grocery list but you figure, \u201cEh, why not?\u201d Before you know it, you\u2019ve added two bags of M&#038;Ms, three packs of gum and a Milky Way to your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1016,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"mrktblog-category":[41],"class_list":["post-2016","mrktblog-posts","type-mrktblog-posts","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mrktblog-category-advantage-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Boost Impulse Buys Through Online Grocery Shopping<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how online grocery shopping platforms can harness consumer impulses at checkout to drive incremental sales and revenue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/advantage360\/how-online-grocery-platforms-can-harness-the-impulse-buy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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