Cost effective and sustainable grocery shopping

The aim of the study is to see if a digital tool can combine the benefits of shopping online, with the perks of purchasing groceries in a physical store. Previous research in the area has found that grocery shopping online isn’t growing at the same pace as normal retail shopping online. The previous studies have narrowed this down to mainly being because consumers want the touch, feel and inspect groceries with an expiry date. Previous research has also found that consumers don’t want to wait for the delivery of groceries, and that some consumers consider the process of walking around in a grocery store relaxing and enjoyable. There’s also been previous research made around the concept of cross-shopping, something this study made use of, as well as consumers' different transportation methods in conjunction with shopping.The study first conducted a survey, which gathered input from 140 consumers, from different demographics. The survey was aimed to be used as a foundation for the app that was developed. The initial survey was also inline with both the hypothesis of the researchers, as well as previous work in the area. The app was then pushed out as an alpha release to 16 testers, who gave their input on what was working well, what wasn’t working, and which features they could see giving a better experience. Already here, the result was positive, showing several good effects of the app, with a vast majority of users both finding it useful and money saving. Based on the input gathered from the alpha testing, the app was further developed and pushed out in a beta release to three testers of different age groups, with whom more in-depth interviews were conducted. The main purpose of the interviews was to get an overview of how different generations used the application and if it changed their behavior somehow while testing it. 75% of the Alpha testers responded that they managed to save money while testing the app and 95% felt that it had in some form helped them plan their grocery shopping. The beta interviews showed a shift in store loyalty and a change for the better in their shopping behaviour. Features such as collaborative shopping lists were shown to be very useful during the COVID-19 pandemic as it helped families carrying out the shopping for their elders. Participants also stated that the app helped them become more conscious about both cost and the environmental effects their shopping can have.The data gathered from the surveys and interviews indicate that a majority of consumers are more interested in features that involve planning and price comparing and not so much the buying or ordering of products itself. A digital tool developed for grocery shopping should focus on being a part of a consumers shopping journey and not replace it. Key features that this study has deemed to be essential are primarily the ability to create and share shopping lists containing real time information from handpicked stores and displayal of promotions and price comparison in a highlighted manner