UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Online grocery shopping rocketed in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social distancing recommendations made getting groceries delivered an attractive alternative to going to the store.
But while the social distancing recommendations ended, online grocery shopping has not waned. In August, online grocery sales for the month surpassed $11 billion for the first time. Yizao Liu, associate professor of agricultural economics in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, was curious about how these new shopping habits may be affecting what we eat.
She, along with colleagues at Penn State and other institutions, has spent the past five years researching how online grocery shopping has affected food choices, household waste and nutritional disparities.
In this Q&A, Liu discussed her research into how online shopping affects what lands in our grocery carts — and what makes it into the landfill.
Q: Why research the effects of online grocery shopping?
Liu: Grocery shopping has changed quickly in just a few years. What used to be a routine trip to the supermarket has increasingly moved online, especially after the pandemic. More people across different income levels, regions and ages are now filling their grocery carts with a click online.
We started to wonder: How is this shift affecting what people actually eat? Grocery shopping isn’t just about convenience. It’s one of the most important points where our daily choices meet our health. We wanted to understand whether buying food online changes what ends up in our baskets and, ultimately, on our plates.
We were also interested in whether online grocery shopping could help reduce long-standing inequalities in food access. For some people, especially those in rural or low-income areas, shopping online might make healthy foods more available. But for others, it could reinforce existing gaps — for example, if delivery services don’t reach their neighborhoods or the online system mainly promotes less nutritious products. Our goal was to uncover both sides of that story.
Q: Does online shopping affect the food people choose to buy?
Liu: Yes. Across our studies, we found that online grocery shopping often leads people to make slightly healthier choices. When people shop online, they tend to spend more on foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. They also make fewer impulse buys — the kinds of last-minute snacks or sugary drinks that are easy to grab in-store.
That said, the effects aren’t the same everywhere. In communities with good access to supermarkets and fresh food, online shopping seems to support healthier purchases. But in areas where the local food environment is limited — where convenience stores dominate or delivery options are scarce — online shopping can sometimes make things worse. This might be due to fewer healthy items being available online in those regions or the way online platforms promote products.
Q: How else does online grocery shopping affect nutritional disparities?
Liu: It can cut both ways. On one hand, online grocery services can reduce nutritional disparities by bringing more healthy food options to people who previously had limited access. For example, residents of rural areas, people without reliable transportation, or households using programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement grocery budgets.
On the other hand, our research shows that online grocery shopping can also amplify disparities if access or affordability is uneven. Households in well-off areas with plenty of grocery options tend to benefit more from online platforms, while those in under-resourced areas may not see the same improvement. So, while technology can expand opportunity, it can also mirror the inequalities that already exist in our food system.
Q: What about food waste? Does online shopping make it easier to over-buy?
Liu: The patterns we saw actually suggest that online shopping could help reduce food waste. People who buy groceries online often plan their purchases ahead of time. They use digital carts, make lists and think through meals before ordering. That kind of planning tends to lead to less over-buying and, in turn, less food waste.
Of course, the impact can vary. Some households might still order more perishables than they can use or face delivery minimums that encourage overbuying. But overall, the structured nature of online shopping seems to promote more mindful and less impulsive purchasing.
Q: What should consumers consider when online grocery shopping?
Liu: There are several points people can keep in mind while shopping online for groceries:
- Plan ahead. Use your cart to stick to a list and avoid impulse buys.
- Check nutrition information. Many websites make it easier to compare labels online than in-store.
- Be aware of product recommendations. Algorithms don’t always promote the healthiest choices — sometimes they favor processed foods or items with high profit margins.
- Take advantage of filters. You can often sort by SNAP-eligible, low-sodium or organic products to find healthier or preferred options faster.