The study of key factors shifting consumers from buying grocery products in store to online

People in Thailand have spent a lot of money each year on food and grocery products. Moreover, the amount of spending is growing each year but the direction that seems to change is how and where people shop for grocery products. The change in this industry can be witnessed by looking at big players in the market. One of the reasons why Big C, Tesco Lotus, or even Makro launched an online shopping platform was because the number of Thai people using a smartphone was growing and the rate of Thai people buying different kinds of products online was also increasing each year. As this market is so attractive; therefore, it has invited competition. As a result, new players in online grocery shopping such as HappyFresh has arrived in Thailand. Apart from direct competitors in the market, there are also indirect competitors; for example, Lazada and Shopee, who sell various kinds of products online including groceries.This research is a contemporary topic in applied marketing focusing mainly on social aspect. The purpose of this research is to explore key drivers that have an impact on changing consumer behaviors from purchasing grocery products in store to online. Furthermore, consumer behaviors will be studied so as to divide them into segments and to also find out success factors in capturing consumers’ attention when purchasing grocery products online.The research was conducted by using two research methodologies: exploratory and descriptive approach. Secondary data from various sources had been explored and seven in-depth interviews were implemented. After that the online questionnaire was designed, reviewed, and distributed to the total of 170 respondents. Statistical methods including frequency, mean values, ANOVA, and custom tables were in SPSS to analyze the data.The result shows that fast delivery, convenience, and time saving are the three keys factors indicating why people buy grocery products online. The products the respondents mostly buy online are stuffs that are heavy to carry ranking from household & cleaning products such as shower cream, followed by cleaning & laundry products such as detergents, and lastly followed by water & beverages. For this reason, the things the respondents buy are related to lifestyle and what they need from online grocery shopping.