COVID-19 impact on consumer intent to buy groceries online in Belgium in 2020

Belgian consumers became somewhat open to online grocery shopping due to the coronavirus, although the majority still preferred to buy in-store. This conclusion was based on a biweekly survey that looked at consumers' net spending intent (the percentage of respondents indicating they will spend more over the next four weeks minus the percentage who said they will spend less), whilst people were in self-isolation. The net spending intent was 16 percent on May 30, 13 percent on June 13, 14 percent on June 27, 12 percent on July 11 and 8 percent on July 25. This overview looks at the distribution of offline and online purchase channels within those answers. Overall, preferences seem to have remained relatively stable as consumers who planned to buy groceries online saw a marginal growth at the end of June.