• Online food market forecast to grow by 12% this year
  • 14% of British consumers now do all their grocery shopping online
  • Online grocery sales outperforming wider market

Online grocery sales are expected to hit £11.1bn in the UK this year as shoppers increasingly buy food online.

That is up from £9.9bn in 2016 and the proportion of consumers buying most or all of their food online continues to rise, according to Mintel research.

In 2021, the online grocery market is forecast to be worth £16.7bn.

Almost a third of online shoppers surveyed said that in the past 12 months they have done more of their grocery shopping online and the proportion of Brits who say they do all of their grocery shopping online has doubled in recent years.

14% of consumers do all of their grocery shopping online, up from 7% in 2014, Mintel found.

The proportion claiming to do most of their grocery shopping online has risen to 13%, up from 10% in 2014.

Overall, 48% do at least some of their food shopping online, up from 43% in 2014.

Fastest growing channel

Mintel senior retail analyst Nick Carroll said: “Online grocery is the quickest growing grocery channel.

”Once seen as simply a service to replicate the needs of a supermarket shop online, a number of new services came to market in 2016 that have the potential to elevate online grocery beyond this barrier and adequately serve the more fluid and frequent shopping behaviours seen in the wider market.

”Growth is being driven by encouraging users who have done most or some of their shopping online to do more.

”This suggests that it’s just as crucial for online grocery retailers to engage as much with their current consumer base as it is for them to attract new shoppers to drive sales.”

However online grocery market still only accounted for about 6% of all grocery retail sales in 2016.

If it grows as expected it will account for 9% in 2021. 

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