For many Americans, the most tedious and time-consuming chore is going to the grocery stores.  A lot of us have made it a weekly routine where we go to the store and grab the same items we grab every week or others of us utilize our grocery list to select the exact things we need.  For both options, we know what we want before we go to the store, which begs the question, why do we even have to go to the store to get groceries?  Groceries stores across the nation have realized the answer to this question by now offering customers the ability to purchase their groceries online and then have them delivered to their house

In a recent forecast by eMarketer, it was projected that by the end of this year, that more than 20% of adults will use an app to purchase their groceries.  In the forecast, they projected that the percent of adults who order groceries at least once a month with an app or online service will grow more than 50% from nearly 12 million people to around 18 million people.

It doesn’t come as a huge surprise as the options to purchase groceries with an app, or the push of a button is rapidly expanding.  The largest companies in the grocery, in particular, have focused their efforts on increasing grocery delivery services.  Walmart plans to continue developing its current grocery delivery system by expanding to 100 more cities by the end of the year.  Kroger is making significant investments to maximize efficiencies in their grocery delivery system, which has already achieved success at a large scale.  Amazon’s recent purchase of Whole Foods serves as additional pressure to these large grocery chains and many others, as their supply chain and delivery capabilities are among the best and most prominent in the world.

In addition to expanding their services, these chains are also helping to ensure that customers are comfortable with getting their groceries in this way.  For many customers, the process of not being able to see the groceries before they buy them is a bit off-putting.  In particular, many of the older generations are very used to their current method of shopping.  In order to build trust, these chains are allowing customers to purchase groceries online, but then pick them up in the store.  In that way, customers still have the ability to see their goods and don’t have to make the full jump to app purchasing for their groceries.

Patricia Orsini, a senior analyst who helped conduct the forecast with eMarketer, added to that sentiment, saying “Shoppers are becoming more comfortable with ordering online in general, and grocery is a part of that.  A key hurdle, traditionally, for ordering fresh produce and other perishable items online has been delivery time, and the desire to hand-select produce and meat.”