SNAP Online Purchase Pilot Reduced Food Insufficiency Among Low-Income Households During Early Pandemic

The USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Online Purchasing Pilot (OPP) allows households to use their benefits to buy groceries online from participating SNAP-authorized retailers. Originally authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, the OPP was intended to test the feasibility of online benefit redemption with a few pilot retailers in a few States in 2019 and 2020 before being implemented nationwide as required by the 2018 Farm Bill. In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service rapidly expanded the pilot to additional States. By the end of September 2020, online SNAP purchasing was available in 45 States and Washington, DC. Previous USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) reports examined the State-level expansion of the OPP and the initial growth in online redemptions during the pandemic.