The Germans really value their retail businesses, is the finding in the new issue of 'b4p trends'. The study published by the Gesellschaft für integrated Kommunikationsforschung (GIK) examines the food retail trade (LEH) at the end of the year.
According to the study, only 3 percent of respondents already buy their food online regularly. Two-thirds of respondents (63%) do not even consider the digital alternative to the supermarket. Instead, they appreciate the proximity of their local store (64%), they like to be able to see and touch the products (57%), avoid expensive delivery costs (24%) and rely on the better quality and freshness of the products (20%). Whether supermarket or discounter: that's not an issue. In the rankings, supermarkets (77%) and discounters (73%) are ranked almost the same and are usually visited about once a week. Almost half of respondents (56%) even buy weekly at both.
But there are also exceptions: Anyone who has ever bought food online, will do so again. Just over half of those who have already tested it, will use online services again. And: health food fans rather prefer to surf the virtual supermarket shelves. Of these, more than half of respondents (53%) have already ordered food via the Internet.
One explanation could be the age structure of organic market fans in general. Even locally, organic supermarkets are enjoying ever greater popularity -particularly with the digitally adroit younger Germans: This goes for almost every third German (32%) between the ages of 14 and 29 years. The same applies to the health food shops, which are disproportionately frequented by the younger generation (18%). By comparison, visiting the organic supermarket and the health food store at least once a month is only an option for around 22% or 13% of the general public.
For Germans, the top criteria for the choice of where to shop are cleanliness (64%) and proximity (50%). In addition, respondents like their wares fresh (42%), they value low prices (40%) and a friendly staff (37%). Virtual retailers can score points with simplicity. Above all, online shoppers appreciate the convenience (49%) and flexibility of purchasing (31%) and shipment to the desired location (32%). They also benefit from the better or more exclusive availability of specialties (26%) and offers (24%) as well as variable delivery times (23%).
