The Marketing Landscape Of Online Groceries

Online grocery stores account for a growing proportion of food sales in the United States. Following an uptick during the pandemic and its wider adoption by younger customers, online food shopping is expected to represent more than 20% of the market by 2026.

But as relatively new spaces, online stores face less standardization than traditional supermarkets. For one, marketing is not limited to the space on a food packet, so online retailers can include much more information about a product. What’s more, legally required information — like allergen or nutrient content — may be less clear online or may not appear at all. The lack of regulation can cause difficulties and even safety risks for customers. Investing in the online food sector could help improve plant-based marketing and safety standards across the board.

This study explores on-pack and online marketing for animal-sourced foods (ASFs) and equivalent plant-based foods (PBFs). The goal was to understand how product information varied between ASFs and PBFs, online and on-pack, and between various retailers. The researchers chose 10 food types to investigate, including milk, eggs, burgers, and pizza, and chose the top-selling ASF and PBF products in each category. Using the same or similar products from seven U.S. retailers, they analyzed online and on-pack marketing for each of the 10 food types.

On average, plant-based foods were found to have more marketing elements than animal-sourced foods: PBFs averaged 47 elements per product, while ASFs averaged 28. Also, online stores featured more marketing elements across the board. While ASFs had twice as many marketing elements online compared to on-pack, PBFs had nearly three times as many. Importantly, while a product’s packaging was fixed across different supermarkets, online information about that product varied widely between retailers.

Mandatory Marketing

Because there was so much marketing online, legally required information could be harder for customers to view. The majority of online products required extra clicking or scrolling to view mandatory information, and sometimes it wasn’t present at all — 27% of ASFs containing allergens had no explicit allergy warning. While this number was much lower for PBFs (less than 6%), these products often failed to include an allergen disclosure for coconut in particular. Also, mandatory information for PBFs was generally more hidden because they had more marketing elements overall.

Voluntary Marketing

The researchers split the non-mandatory marketing elements into a number of sub-groups.

Sustainability Elements

Sustainability elements, which include any reference to environmental impact, were very limited on ASFs, with an average of less than one per product. In contrast, PBFs contained about six per product. However, PBFs still had very few references to carbon footprint. Considering the outsized climate impact of animal farming, the researchers point to this as a potential opportunity for PBFs to differentiate themselves.

Health Elements

References to health were made by both ASFs and PBFs, but in different ways. While PBFs more often boasted being suitable for certain diets, ASFs made much greater use of “structure/function” health claims (for example, “calcium builds strong bones”). Though these claims are heavily regulated, PBFs did not make use of them even where they were eligible. Again, the researchers note that this represents an untapped opportunity for PBFs.

Sourcing Elements

Elements focused on production can include terms like “vegetarian” or “cage-free.” Most production elements on ASFs referred to animal welfare, and this has been shown to influence consumer behavior. However, more research is needed to understand the effects of using animal welfare elements on PBFs. It may be that health and sustainability elements are more effective for PBFs, as these are often stated as motives for transitioning to a plant-based diet.

Sensory And Emotional Elements

Sensory elements (references to taste, texture, and smell) were more common among PBFs overall, while ASFs used more emotional elements. This difference is interesting and might warrant further investigation. Emotional elements often appeal to things like culture, family, and nostalgia, which may be harder to evoke for newer, less traditional plant-based foods. But emotional elements tend to be more influential than sensory elements, and both together are more effective still. Working out how to combine them in a marketing strategy for PBFs again represents a promising opportunity, according to the researchers.

Overall, the study highlights many ways in which plant-based foods could be marketed more effectively — and this is especially pressing as the online grocery sector develops. The researchers argue that standardization will be needed across online stores to help protect consumer safety and trust. Ultimately, more investment, research, and strategy in online marketing can help to more effectively promote plant-based foods that are better for animals and the planet.