Consumer characteristics and e-grocery services: the primacy of the primary shopper

The literature does not agree on the precise role of socio-demographic characteristics in the adoption of online grocery shopping. This methodological note reviews the literature and shows that the differences in empirical results can to a large extent be explained by the data that is used. In particular, what matters is whether or not the survey that is exploited was targeted at the household member primarily responsible for the grocery shopping. I show that studies that use a non-targeted survey erroneously find that women are keener to adopt e-grocery services, in that the gender gap is simply due to women’s role as homemakers. I also show that such studies tend to underestimate the impact of education and income.