Purchasing grocery online in a nonmetro city: Investigating the role of convenience, security, and variety

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Adil Khan,Sablu Khan
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2497

ACADEMIC PAPER

Purchasing grocery online in a nonmetro city: Investigating the

role of convenience, security, and variety

Adil Khan

1

| Sablu Khan

2

1

School of Management, OP Jindal University,

Raigarh, India

2

Department of Business Administration,

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Correspondence

Sablu Khan, Department of Business

Administration, Aligarh Muslim University,

Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, India.

Email: sablumba@gmail.com

This study targets consumers of a nonmetro city to assess their perceptions about

online grocery shopping. Earlier grocery companies were targeting only selected

metro cities. However, recent reports have indicated that nonmetro cities can also

become a profitable market for online grocery retailers. This study is an attempt to

provide an empirical analysis related to the beliefs and the attitude of target con-

sumers about online grocery shopping. By applying belief–attitude–behavior

approach, the study tests the relationships between convenience, security, and vari-

ety with attitude and social norms (SNs) and thereof the relationship between atti-

tude and social norms with purchase intention of online grocery. The results of the

study indicate that both attitude and SNs have a significant positive relation with

online grocery purchase intention. Convenience is significantly related to attitude but

not with SNs. Both security and variety significantly predict each of attitude and SNs.

1|INTRODUCTION

Grocery is an everyday need for all households. Traditionally, the

grocery items are purchased from local Kirana shops, convenience

stores, malls, and hypermarkets. Since the introduction of

e-commerce business, many companies are selling grocery items

online, but their operations are limited to metro cities. Most online

grocery stores do not cater to the needs of customers in nonmetro

cities, thereby missing potential opportunities for online marketers

(Dattagupta, ). Recently, online grocery retailers are also targeting

nonmetro cities (Mitter, 2019). Indian consumers use about half of

their remuneration on groceries (Hindustan Times, 2018).

With the rise in online payments, increasing penetration of the

internet, and the increase in the usage of smartphones, e-grocery

shopping was raised in 2013 (Business Today, 2013). The rapid

growth of internet and smartphone users is linked to an increase in

e-retailing, in general, and e-grocery shopping, in particular. It is antici-

pated that the number of internet users in India will grow from

480 million in 2019 to 660 million in 2023 (Diwanji, 2020). Thus, the

proportion of internet users is likely to become 59% in 2021 from

28% in 2016, expecting more e-shopper base in India for e-grocery

shopping.

Currently, e-grocery sh oppers aim to tap the rapid shift to digital

shopping in $428bn India's grocery market, which presently makes

up less than 1% of total grocery sales, that is, roughly $150 m

(Financial Times, 2017). St ill, it is comparatively much lower than t he

share of other developed ec onomies in e-grocery shopping, such as

in the U.K., China, and the U.S. it is 6.9, 4.2, and 2%, respec tively.

Therefore, the online gro cery market has vast potent ial in the coun-

try, and it is expected to reach $ 17.39 billion by 2022. Earlier, the

“online grocery market ”in the country was anti cipated to grow at a

CAGR of 55% during 2016–2021 (TechSci Research Report, 2016).

Currently, the “e-grocery market”in the country is projected

to achieve a growth of CAGR of 60% during 2019–2022.

According to some estimates, the grocery retail in India could be

over 60% of the country's total retail market, making it the largest

consumer segment (The Wharton School, 2018). Analysts measure

the Indian grocery retailing market between $400 billion and $600 bil-

lion presently (The Wharton School, 2018). India is the world's third-

largest grocery market after China ($1400 bn) and U.S. ($830 bn)

(Financial Times, 2017) and has the potential to grow to $700 billion

by 2022 (Reportlinker, 2015; The Wharton School, 2018). It is worth-

while to note that, except among some highly educated urban con-

sumers, the concept of shopping grocery online is still new. In India,

the e-grocery shopping was started with the formation of Big Basket

and ZopNow in 2011 and Grofer in 2013. During 2011 and 2014, the

online grocery market size in India was about $ 0.05 Billion, and the

period, 2011–2014, is referred to as the infancy period (Mitter, 2019).

Received: 27 April 2020 Revised: 19 July 2020 Accepted: 13 September 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2497

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2497. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of12

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2497