Oct 07, 2020
Readers Digest – Before March 2020, online shopping accounted for just 3 percent of all grocery sales, or about $1.2 billion.
By June, that number shot up to $7.2 billion. Now, with social distancing mandates still in effect in many places, plenty of customers are going to be using virtual carts for a long time to come.
“When COVID-19 hit, a lot of people who had never really thought about their grocery shopping habits before suddenly had to,” says Andy Ellwood, president and co-founder of Basket, a grocery shopping and price comparison app.
As many brick and mortar stores struggled to keep food and other supplies in stock, customers turned to new chains, new brands, and online or curbside pickup services. Here are 10 things you won’t find in the supermarket anymore post-pandemic.
A tale of two shopping lists
While online grocery shopping definitely has its advantages, particularly while the country is still coming to grips with the pandemic, it also has its downsides.
Online groceries often come with delivery surcharges, and shopping online can make it more difficult to take advantage of coupons and sales. Not to mention the dreaded substitutions for out-of-stock items, like parsley when you need cilantro.
Ellwood says:
“A lot of people tested and tried delivery services and had varied experiences. We heard from a lot of shoppers that it isn’t quite the same as shopping [at] a store.
“What’s been fascinating, is that now, we’re seeing people make two shopping lists: one for curbside pickup, and one for themselves to shop in a brick-and-mortar store.”
We asked Ellwood and other experts to weigh in on what foods are best to buy in-person versus online, and here are the results. Here are some other ways coronavirus could change the way we eat.
- Fresh fruit
- Avocados
- Milk …
The rest of the list may not be so obvious – click here to see the full list at Readers Digest.
