Insights from the International Food Information Council’s latest survey.
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As the ongoing pandemic continues to affect our daily lives in unique ways, you may be wondering how your personal choices around grocery shopping and eating line up with Americans in general. The International Food Information Council (IFIC) recently released the results of a February 2021 survey in which they interviewed 1,001 adults 18 and over at the beginning of the month. Responses were weighted to ensure proportional results that reflect the American population.
The study found that more than one in three Americans are buying more shelf-stable foods and shopping for groceries online more frequently since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Of the 323 survey participants who indicated they’re shopping for groceries online more often, a majority of them indicated that they would continue to do so post-pandemic. 38% said they would buy groceries online even more post-pandemic, and 32% said they would continue to shop for groceries online the same amount they’re doing now.
“We’ve been closely watching the massive shift toward online grocery shopping throughout the pandemic,” Ali Webster, PhD, RD, and director of research and nutrition communications at the International Food Information Council, told me. “Since we know that this process hasn’t been flawless—ordering delays early on in the pandemic, missing items, produce that might not fit the specific preferences of the shopper—we were curious to see if people would beeline it back to stores once the pandemic subsides. What we found is that most people who’ve done more online shopping during the pandemic plan to continue doing so even in a post-pandemic world. It really seems that the convenience factor has people hooked and ready to make a long-term change to their grocery buying habits.”
IFIC also asked survey-takers if they dined out at a restaurant in the past month. 59% of respondents noted that they had not. For the 613 survey participants who indicated they hadn’t eaten at a restaurant in the past month, the most popular criteria for returning to restaurant dining included “when it is deemed safe to do so by medical authorities,” “when COVID-19 rates are lower where I live,” “only once a vaccine is widely available,” and “only once I am vaccinated.”
“The major decision points about returning to restaurant dining are focused on vaccine availability and the advice of medical authorities,” Webster told me. “The majority of people in our survey said they hadn’t been to a restaurant in the past month, and there’s clear wariness about doing so until public health messaging lends more support for restaurant dining and access to vaccination expands. Continuing to get the pandemic under control also remains a crucial step. Essentially, what we’ve seen is that restaurant dining is still too big of a risk for many people to take, and people are willing to wait until that risk is considerably diminished.”
As for key takeaways from this study for consumers, Webster explained that IFIC’s research allows people to peer into the decisions being made by others when it comes to food shopping and dining out. “Throughout the pandemic, we’ve all been preoccupied with how other people are managing their lives, whether this comes from a safety standpoint—what are the do’s and don’ts of COVID-19 hygiene and how are those around me following them?—as well as ideas for coping mechanisms and how we’re all eating and shopping. Accessing this information can be reassuring, surprising or even alarming, depending on how aligned our personal decisions are with the data.”
