Understanding Millennials Regarding Online Versus In-Store Grocery Shopping Preferences

Grocery shopping has changed in significant ways over the last 150 years – all to allow customers to choose their own items (Strasser, 1989). Within the last decade, large U.S. supermarkets, like Kroger, Walmart, and Safeway have rolled out online stores (Perez, 2015). However, in 2017, when the Internet-based giant, Amazon, acquired Whole Foods and developed the Amazon Go concept store, the march toward online-only sales came into question. The purpose of this research is to attempt to understand the preferences associated with Millennials regarding online versus in-store grocery shopping preferences. This paper provides the following contributions. First, it extends research on grocery shopper preferences regarding online and in-store environments. Second, the findings provide a deeper understanding of an individual’s mindset currently utilizing online and in-store purchasing channels. Finally, it provides initial evidence on the relative importance of online and in-store characteristics