While shopping online for consumer packaged goods (CPG) may have come late to the e-commerce party, it is a fast-growing sales channel. In 2010, U.S. online CPG sales reached $12 billion, representing about two percent of all CPG sales. That sales rate is expected to double in four years to $25 billion by 2014. Several market factors and forces are at play making CPG ripe for e-commerce opportunity.
From a demand standpoint, the first generation of ‘digital natives’ are forming households. To these tech-savvy media mavens, online is a way of life for convenient, on-demand and personalized attention. Plus, broadband penetration and mobile adoption rates continue to increase. The “what I want, when I want it and where I want it” trifecta will be complete for the majority.
On the supply side, the economies of scale for retailers are building as the online channel provides a greater awareness and availability of distribution opportunities. For manufacturers, online enables a deeper, more personalized relationship with the shopper – delivering on the full promise of category management.
Five things to know about online grocery shopping:
Online grocery shopping is no longer coming – it has arrived. Now is the time to get in the game and determine how your brand can add value in new ways across consumer touch points. It is not only a shopper’s market, but a marketer’s market. The rate of change is accelerating and so it the rate of opportunity for creative marketers who embrace the digital revolution.
These and other insights were highlighted in a Nielsen webinar held May 24. Click here to download the webinar, Balancing Act: Aligning E-Commerce with Today's CPG Shopper.