=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3293/paper33
|storemode=property
|title=Consumer Adoption of Online Grocery Shopping: Findings from a Case Study in Cyprus
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3293/paper33.pdf
|volume=Vol-3293
|authors=Marianthi Giannakopoulou,George Adamides,Andreas Stylianou
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/haicta/GiannakopoulouA22
}}
==Consumer Adoption of Online Grocery Shopping: Findings from a Case Study in Cyprus==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3293/paper33.pdf
Consumer Adoption of Online Grocery Shopping: Findings from
a Case Study in Cyprus
Marianthi Giannakopoulou 1, George Adamides 1 and Andreas Stylianou 1
1
Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 22016, 1516 Nicosia, Cyprus
Abstract
Consumer adoption of online grocery shopping has been gradually increasing over the past
two decades. This article examines the factors that influence adoption of online grocery
shopping in relation to the socio-economic characteristics of the typical adopter profile in
Cyprus. Using data from 302 respondents of an online questionnaire, a representative of
the demographics of Cyprus, it was found that 45,7% have purchased groceries online.
Age and family income are key drivers of online grocery shopping. These findings can
support marketers and policymakers in enhancing the knowledge of this emerging online
market.
Keywords 1
Online grocery shopping, consumer adoption, consumer profiling
1. Introduction
Technological advancement has become an indispensable part of life. According to recent reports
[1], globally 4,95 billion people use the internet, that’s the equivalent of 62,5% of the world’s total
population. Moreover, there are 7,4 billion mobile-phone subscription [2], hence one might describe
today’s consumers as more “connected” than ever before. On average, people spend almost 7 hours
daily using the internet, and the majority, 92,1% of the users access the internet using their mobile
phones [1].
Information technology has changed the way people communicate, socialize, learn, and
consequently even how they do shopping. The global food & grocery retail market was valued
approximately at USD 12.29 trillion in 2020, and is projected to be worth USD 17.29 trillion by 2027
[3]. In a survey of 30,000 respondents from 63 countries, carried out in 2016 by the Nielsen Group,
showed that 24% have purchased groceries online, specifically packaged grocery food, and 21% have
purchased fresh groceries [2].
Online grocery shopping (OGS) is an alternative way of buying food and other household
necessities using a web-based shopping service, instead of the traditional in-store grocery shopping. In
a previous study, carried out in Cyprus in 2006, it was found that only 14% of the respondents had
purchased groceries online, indicating that Cypriot consumers were quite unfamiliar with OGS [4].
Findings from this survey have shown, however, that 45,7% of the respondents said that they have
bought groceries online and in fact 72,6% of them agree that purchasing groceries online is an
easy/straightforward process. Hence, Cypriot consumers are now much more familiar with OGS than
15 years ago.
This study started in 2021 (Summer-Autumn), during the Covid-19 pandemic where several
measures were in place (since 2020), to limit the spread of the virus (e.g., restriction of free movement).
In the context of a pandemic, online grocery shopping can offer interesting benefits to consumers
including social distancing, home delivery and time savings. The associated measures introduced in
Proceedings of HAICTA 2022, September 22–25, 2022, Athens, Greece
EMAIL: marianthym@ari.gov.cy (A. 1); gadamides@ari.gov.cy (A. 2); a.stylianou@ari.gov.cy (A. 3)
ORCID: 0000-0002-2195-7624 (A. 1); 0000-0001-7343-8765 (A. 2); 0000-0002-2611-4319 (A. 3)
©️ 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
164
Cyprus, and worldwide, caused several severe economic and societal disturbances, leading to an
expansion of e-commerce in general, and accelerating its adoption. Subsequently the online grocery
retail expanded during the pandemic [5-7].
According to the Cyprus Statistical Service in 2021 Internet access in households reached 93,4%
compared to 92,8% in 2020 [8]. This is in accordance with findings in our study, which found that 95%
of participants have access to the Internet. The Cyprus Statistical Service also reports that 80% of
households have access to a personal computer (desktop, laptop/netbook or tablet) and a computer is
found in almost all (95,4%) households with dependent children. Similarly, in 2020 18,8% of all
enterprises received orders for goods and services via computer networks compared to 16,4% in 2019
[9]. Furthermore 22,7% of all enterprises stated that due to the Covid-19 pandemic the enterprise started
or increased its efforts to sell goods or services via the internet (websites, apps, marketplaces).
Specifically, one such case is the Foody delivery service where people can order, using their website
(http://www.foody.com.cy) or their mobile app, from more than 2100 stores throughout Cyprus. Prior
to the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2019 there were only 5 stores on Foody available to order groceries, while
today (January 2022) there are almost 100 stores for grocery home delivery [10].
The aim of this article is to investigate consumers’ adoption of online grocery shopping, in relation
to demographic and household characteristics, presenting the case study of Cyprus. The remainder of
this paper is structured as follows. In the next section, a literature review on online grocery shopping
and consumer characteristics is provided. Then, the methodological steps, data collection and analysis
are described in detail. Next, the results of the study are analyzed with a discussion of the core findings
and finally a summary of main results and future work are presented.
2. Literature Review
A bibliographical survey in Scopus for the period 2000 until 2021, resulted in 217 articles related to
the query (“online grocery shopping” OR “e-grocery”). The analysis of the search results shows a steady
increase in the number of published studies on the subject of OGS, especially since 2016. It is notable
however, that after further analysis, out of the 216 articles, only 21 (9,7%) were reporting results about
consumer adoption of OGS in Euro-Mediterranean countries (Figure 1). In this sense, this study
provides additional, more recent information for the case of Cyprus, but also supplements findings from
Euro-Mediterranean countries.
Figure 1: Scopus search results analysis of OGS adoption in Euro-Mediterranean countries.
165
Etumnu, Foster, Widmar, Lusk and Ortega [11] examined the drivers of online grocery shopping in
the United States and explored linkages between consumer demographics and perception. They
hypothesized that specific socio-demographics (e.g. age, children in the household) affect the tendency
to shop for groceries online, and that consumers who do OGS have favorable perceptions about OGS
compared to in-store grocery shopping (e.g. convenience). They concluded that younger people,
irrespective of their gender, where they live, and their previous online shopping experience, are more
likely to shop online for groceries.
Van Droogenbroeck and Van Hove [12] using logistic regression analysis, they examined the impact
of both personal and sociodemographic variables of consumers in Belgium and the effects on the
adoption of online grocery shopping. They found that the higher the educational level of the
respondents, the more likely were to adopt OGS, while gender was non-significant. They conclude with
suggestions that supermarkets should target households with young children and highly educated full-
time working parents, as for those groups of consumers the probability to adopt OGS is significantly
higher. In addition, supermarkets should focus on providing solutions (e.g. develop websites with a
clear layout, sufficient but concise product information, as well as a logical and fast ordering process)
for poor-time consumers, because time saving is an important reason for adopting OGS.
Driediger and Bhatiasevi [13] has used the Technology Acceptance Model to identify differences in
the acceptance of OGS in the context of developing countries (e.g. Thailand). They found that perceived
usefulness is very likely to develop intentions to use OGS. They also found a positive relationship
between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, meaning that consumers who find OGS easy
to use are more likely to perceive it as useful. Furthermore, they found a positive relationship between
perceived ease of use and intention to use. In terms of gender, perceived enjoyment and perceived ease
of use is higher for females. In terms of perceived usefulness towards intention to use, they found that
OGS effectiveness and efficiency are more appealing to the higher income respondents. There was no
significant differences between married and single respondents, and likewise, the size of the household
did not seem to have any significant differences in their acceptance and behavior.
In a recent study conducted in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, including
Mediterranean countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, showed that during the Covid-
19 pandemic there was an increase of 33% of online grocery shopping [14]. Likewise, in Lebanon,
Hassen, El Bilali, Allahyari and Charbel [15], also found a change in the grocery shopping behavior
with a rise in online shopping, as consumers were trying to avoid in-store shopping, however not as
much as in the MENA region. This may be explained to country’s (Lebanon) weak digital infrastructure,
which as noted the Internet infrastructure is sorely inadequate.
In Italy, Dominici, Boncinelli, Gerini and Marone [16] explored the effects of socio-demographics
and situational factors that influence individuals’ likelihood to buy food online. The results, from
respondents who participated in the Italian National Institute of Statistics multipurpose survey “Aspects
of Italian Daily Life”, indicated that young (age range 35-54), well-educated, female, living in a small
family, with good or adequate overall economic condition were more likely to adopt online food
purchasing. Another study [17] examined the consumers’ preferences for e-grocery in two major cities
in Italy (Rome and Milan) in 2018. Results from this study showed that pricing or timing strategies (e.g.
reduction in the delivery fees), can steer consumers towards ordering grocery online, preferably having
them delivered at home.
Goethals, Leclercq-Vandelannoitte and Tütüncü [18] examined the perceptions of French consumers
towards e-grocery retailing. They found no statistical significance between men (16%) and women
(18%), however they did find significant evidence (p=.001) depending on consumer’s age. Specifically,
32% of consumers age 30-45 years and 20% of those between 45 and 60 years have bought groceries
online, while only 10% of consumers age 20-30 and none (0%) of consumers older than 60.
The overview of the literature review shows that even with an increasing number of studies in the
area of OGS adoption, there are inconsistencies regarding the online consumer profile.
3. Methodology
This study was based on an online survey in Cyprus using a structured questionnaire, adapted from
previous studies [19, 20]. The survey was conducted through a self-administered questionnaire that was
166
posted online using Google Forms2 and was administered between July and September 2020, during
the Covid-19 pandemic and the related ‘stay at home’ lockdown and other related measures to prevent
infection in Cyprus. The choice of online survey was selected because it is cheap, easy to set up,
convenient to the participant (in terms of time and place), and do not require a physical contact between
the interviewers and the respondents, that was a concern (and restriction) during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The survey panel consisted of primary household grocery shoppers (i.e. person primarily responsible
for most of the grocery shopping in their household) aged 18 and over, living in Cyprus. The sampling
method that was used was the stratified random sampling 284 persons (5% margin of error και 95%
confidence level). Prior to the survey being administered to the general public, a pretest (pilot study) of
18 respondents was conducted with the goal to increase the validity and reliability of our testimonial
survey evidence.
Binary logistic regression was used to predict the probability of the binary yes or no outcome (i.e.
“have you ever purchased grocery online?”). The null hypothesis tested is that there is no relationship
between the outcome and predictor variables (gender, location, age, educational level, household size,
number of children under 18 age living in the same household, marital status, profession and monthly
family income) [21, 22]. All statistical analyses were carried out using JASP software [23].
4. Results
Table 1 displays sample averages for several demographic and household variables. The total
number of questionnaires collected was 364, with 302 of the respondents indicating that they were the
primary household grocery shopper, while ensuring regional (district) quotas were met. These 302
questionnaires were taken into consideration for further analysis, since when respondents answered
‘No’ to the first question, whether they were the primary household grocery shopper, the interview was
terminated. The respondents’ median age was 41, which is in line with that of Cyprus population 37,7
[24]. At 67,4%, women are dominating, which seem to be in accordance with various studies [6, 13,
25], indicating that the grocery shopping is a task performed mainly by women.
2
https://docs.google.com/forms
167
Table 1
Survey sample demographics
Survey variable respondents (n-302) Mean % of respondents
Age 41,71
Gender
Male 32,56
Female 67,44
District
Nicosia 42,05
Limassol 29,80
Larnaca 13,91
Ammochostos 6,29
Paphos 7,95
Educational level
Primary education 0.66
Gymnasium 1,32
Lyceum 8,94
Diploma 8,94
Bachelor 28,15
Master/PhD 51,99
Number of household members 3.50
Number of household members < 18 1,26
Marital status
Single 19,87
Married 73,18
Divorced 4.30
Widower 1.66
Other (cohabitation) 0.99
Occupation
Private sector employee 36,75
Public sector employee 47,02
Freelancer 5,63
Retired 3,31
Housewife 2,32
Student 2,65
Unemployed 2,32
The logistic regression model was statistically significant χ2 (296) = 40.99, p < .001. The model
correctly classified 65,9% of cases. Decreasing age and increasing monthly family income were
associated with an increased likelihood of online grocery shopping (Table 2 and Figure 2). These results
are consistent with previous studies [11, 12, 16].
168
Table 2
Logistic regression model Coefficients
Wald Test
Estimate Standard Error Odds Ratio z Wald Statistic df p
(Intercept) 1.15 0.59 3.17 1.96 3.84 1 0.05
Age -0.07 0.02 0.93 -4.60 21.12 1 < .001
MonthlyFamilyIncome 0.51 0.12 1.67 4.42 19.54 1 < .001
Note. OnlineGrorceryShopping level '1' coded as class 1.
Figure 2: Estimates plots – Age and monthly family income.
Similar to other studies [5, 12], no statistically significant difference was found between men (41%)
and women (48%). Likewise, the education level, profession, geographical location (district) and
marital status were not found to have any statistically significant difference, which are also consistent
with similar studies [11, 13].
5. Conclusion
Despite its fast growth rate in the past two years, primarily possibly due to Covid-19 pandemic
related movement restrictions, online grocery shopping has ever gained little attention so far. It is
notable that in Cyprus, the previous study on this topic occurred in 2006. This paper fills this research
gap and opens a discussion about consumer behavior and online grocery shopping strategies.
Furthermore, our analysis enriches the literature on the consumers’ profile characteristics of the
adoption of online grocery shopping, especially in the Euro-Mediterranean region. This case study
provides new empirical evidence on the understanding of the determinants of online grocery shopping
in Cyprus.
The key drivers that emerged were age and family income. With regard to age, younger consumers
seem to be more accustomed with technology and Internet applications, while older people are less
enthusiastic. These findings might be beneficial to retailers and policy makers for grocery shopping in
marketing OGS. Supermarkets may opt to target older populations and big households by offering no-
fee delivery or promotions of discounted products to attract individuals from these groups (i.e. price-
sensitive customers).
Big life changes (e.g. Covid-19 pandemic) may trigger an initial adoption of a behavior (i.e. online
grocery shopping), given the higher demand for social distancing, convenience and/or time-saving
features. As noted by Goethals, Leclercq-Vandelannoitte and Tütüncü [18] and Frank and Peschel [25],
convenience and time saving aspects are also possible drivers for adopting online grocery shopping,
especially for households with full-time employment and presence of young children. Before the Covid-
19 pandemic, only 7% of grocery retail sales worldwide involved e-commerce channels. During the
169
peak of the pandemic (March-April 2020), the e-commerce share of grocery retail grew to 10%, while
a recent study [26], showed that the current share of global e-commerce penetration for online grocery
shopping was valued at 9%.
Further research should investigate consumers’ attitude towards online grocery shopping, the factors
that enable online grocery shopping, behavioral intention and related social norms.
6. References
[1] DATAREPORTAL. "Digital around the world," February 10, 2022, 2022;
https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview.
[2] Nielsen. "What's in-store for online grocery shopping," February 10, 2022, 2022;
https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/nielsen-global-connected-
commerce-report-january-2017.pdf.
[3] MARKETSTUDYREPORT. "Global Food & Grocery Retail Market Size study, by Product
(Packaged Food, Unpackaged Food, Drinks, Tobacco and Household Products), by Application
(Bakery & Confectionery, Meat, Poultry & Seafood, Dairy Products, Beverages and Others) and
Regional Forecasts 2021-2027," February 10, 2022, 2022;
https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-food-grocery-retail-market-size-research.
[4] G. Adamides, G. Marianthi, and S. Savvides, "Traditional Vs Online Attitudes Towards Grocery
Shopping In Cyprus." p. 60.
[5] K. L. Jensen, J. Yenerall, X. Chen, and T. E. Yu, “US Consumers’ Online Shopping Behaviors
and Intentions During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Journal of Agricultural and Applied
Economics, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 416-434, 2021.
[6] S. Jribi, H. B. Ismail, D. Doggui, and H. Debbabi, “COVID-19 virus outbreak lockdown: What
impacts on household food wastage?,” Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 22, no.
5, pp. 3939-3955, 2020.
[7] P. Dannenberg, M. Fuchs, T. Riedler, and C. Wiedemann, “Digital transition by COVID‐19
pandemic? The German food online retail,” Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie,
vol. 111, no. 3, pp. 543-560, 2020.
[8] CYStat, "SURVEY RESULTS ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES USAGE IN HOUSEHOLDS AND BY INDIVIDUALS 2021," Information
Society S. S. o. Cyprus, ed., 2021.
[9] CYStat, "RESULTS OF THE SURVEY ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES (ICT) USAGE AND e-COMMERCE IN ENTERPRISES 2021," S. S. O.
CYPRUS, ed., 2021.
[10] M. Christodoulou, "Foody grocery shops," G. Adamides, ed., Foody, 2022.
[11] C. E. Etumnu, K. A. Foster, N. O. Widmar, J. L. Lusk, and D. L. Ortega, “Drivers of Online
Grocery Shopping,” 2019.
[12] E. Van Droogenbroeck, and L. Van Hove, “Adoption of online grocery shopping: personal or
household characteristics?,” Journal of Internet Commerce, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 255-286, 2017.
[13] F. Driediger, and V. Bhatiasevi, “Online grocery shopping in Thailand: Consumer acceptance and
usage behavior,” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 48, pp. 224-237, 2019.
[14] IPSOS. "5 Ways COVID-19 Has Impacted MENA’s Food Habits," February 22, 2022, 2022;
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2020-06/5_ways_covid-
19_impacted_menas_food_habits_-_ipsos_mena_0.pdf.
[15] T. B. Hassen, H. El Bilali, M. S. Allahyari, and L. Charbel, “Food shopping, preparation and
consumption practices in times of COVID-19: case of Lebanon,” Journal of Agribusiness in
Developing and Emerging Economies, 2021.
[16] A. Dominici, F. Boncinelli, F. Gerini, and E. Marone, “Determinants of online food purchasing:
The impact of socio-demographic and situational factors,” Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services, vol. 60, pp. 102473, 2021.
[17] I. Maltese, M. Le Pira, E. Marcucci, V. Gatta, and C. Evangelinos, “Grocery or@ grocery: A stated
preference investigation in Rome and Milan,” Research in Transportation Economics, vol. 87, pp.
101096, 2021.
170
[18] F. Goethals, A. Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, and Y. Tütüncü, “French consumers' perceptions of the
unattended delivery model for e-grocery retailing,” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services,
vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 133-139, 2012.
[19] I. Ajzen, “The theory of planned behavior,” Organizational behavior and human decision
processes, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 179-211, 1991.
[20] P. Symeou, “The Behavioral Model of the Cypriot Consumer of Organic Food: The Foundation of
a National Strategic Plan for Promoting the Consumption of Organic Food,” 2017.
[21] B. A. Gloy, and J. T. Akridge, “Computer and internet adoption on large US farms,” The
international food and agribusiness management review, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 323-338, 2000.
[22] G. Adamides, A. Stylianou, P. C. Kosmas, and C. D. Apostolopoulos, “Factors affecting PC and
Internet usage by the rural population of Cyprus,” Agricultural Economics Review, vol. 14, no.
389-2016-23478, pp. 16-36, 2013.
[23] JASP-Team, "JASP: A fresh way to do statistics," February 16, 2022, https://jasp-stats.org/, 2022.
[24] Eurostat. "Population structure and ageing," 18 February, 2022;
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-
explained/index.php?title=Population_structure_and_ageing.
[25] D.-A. Frank, and A. O. Peschel, “Sweetening the Deal: The Ingredients that Drive Consumer
Adoption of Online Grocery Shopping,” Journal of Food Products Marketing, vol. 26, no. 8, pp.
535-544, 2020/10/12, 2020.
[26] D. Coppola. "Global development of e-commerce shares of grocery stores before and after the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic," August 1, 2022, 2022;
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1229979/grocery-e-commerce-shares-development-during-
pandemic/.
171