Here at Leapfrogg, we have a panel of over 1000 retail consumers that we engage with on a regular basis to help us understand customer needs and expectations from the brands and retailers they buy from.

Every month, we question them on a range of areas from buying behaviours and brand opinion, to emotional purchase triggers and their recent shopping experiences.

The Insight Edit is our weekly bite size edit of the insight we gain from our panel in our search to truly understand the mind of the premium customer.

Recently, we have seen a real emergence of great online food and drink brands and retailers, from niche food retailers such as Planet Organic to the booming sector of food subscription services such as Gousto.

To further understand online food & drink shoppers’ evolving behaviours and attitudes, we asked our Panel whether they purchased food and drink items online than and their motivations for doing so.

63% of the panel stated they had bought food or drink online (excluding supermarket groceries). Although this figure may appear to be behind other sectors, it’s still a large percentage of consumers and it shows growth opportunities for the sector.

We then asked those who had bought food and drink online what types of retailers they had bought from:

40% had bought from speciality food websites (e.g. health foods, wine retailers)

27% had bought from an individual food/drink brand online (e.g. Nespresso, Twinnings)

24% had bought from food subscription sites (Abel & Cole, Graze)

We then asked them why…

10% purchase food and drink online because they receive a wider choice of products

31% purchase food and drink online because it’s more convenient

12.9% purchase food and drink products they cannot purchase elsewhere

11% purchase food and drink online because the prices are cheaper

With such a low percentage of our panel being driven by price, brands and retailers selling food and drink online do not need to be price driven to drive sales as long as they are offering seamless and easy path to purchase. Successful online food and drink brands will be those with a clear and engaging brand and a range of products that are not easily available in stores.

Read more about the food and drink retailers who are engaging successfully with their customers in our latest engagement report which looks into the growing food and drink subscription sector.