Critical factors in electronic grocery shopping

The typical customers in an electronic grocery store (EGS) in Finland are wealthy dual-career families with small children, who live around large cities. Their expected benefits, reduced time and effort, are at least fairly well met by the existing EGSs. When comparing the users and the non-users of EGSs in our data, we find that in addition to the evidently important size of the household, the critical issues are threefold, and related to: the primary reason to choose an electronic channel over a traditional one; consumer preferences between lower price-level and better service; and information needs of the customers.