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Food ecommerce is rapidly evolving, with innovative trends reshaping how consumers purchase and interact with online food retailers.
Sustainability, AI-driven personalization, and omnichannel marketing are leading the charge in 2024. From eco-friendly packaging to tailored shopping experiences, these trends are revolutionizing the industry.
Staying ahead of these trends is crucial for your food ecommerce business to remain competitive and meet changing consumer demands.
Join us below to discover the 10 biggest ecommerce food trends with tips on using them to enhance your online store.
Sign up for Omnisend to boost your food ecommerce sales with automated email and SMS marketing
Ecommerce food businesses sell food and drinks online. Products range from standard groceries to unique specialties.
Unlike online stores that sell non-perishable products, it’s essential that food ecommerce merchants nail time management and deliver efficiently.
It can make for a juggling act, especially with an American public that is devouring the ecommerce food option. In 2020, monthly sales ranged from a low of $4 billion to a high of $7.2 billion.
Food ecommerce trends
Whether a supermarket, chocolatier, or spirit manufacturer, all ecommerce merchants can benefit from food and beverage ecommerce trends. The industry is a competitive landscape that, like any other market, requires the right commerce platforms and marketing strategies to thrive.
Omnisend has witnessed the growth of food and beverage ecommerce through our customers’ experiences. Our clients are attracting larger and more frequent orders with the help of some trends.
1. Email and SMS automation
Food ecommerce businesses are embracing email and SMS automation in 2024 to increase sales, improve customer engagement, and streamline marketing efforts following successes with standard email campaigns.
Omnisend research shows that the food and drink industry had one of the highest email open rates in 2023, at 30.8% versus the 25.1% industry average:
Incredibly, automated emails have even higher open rates (42.1% vs. 25.1%), click rates (5.4% vs. 1.5%), and conversion rates (1.9% vs. 0.07%) than campaign emails.
It’s a similar story for SMS, with automated messages having higher click rates (9.4% vs 7.6%) and conversion rates (0.28% vs 0.13%) than campaign SMS.
You could build an automated welcome series, personalized product recommendations for transactional and campaign emails, abandoned cart recovery, order confirmations with upsells, back-in-stock alerts, and re-engagement messages.
2. Sustainability and eco-friendly practices
Food ecommerce businesses are revamping products, packaging, and sourcing practices to meet the growing demand for sustainability among young consumers.
A 2023-2024 study revealed that 80% of 18-24-year-olds worry about the sustainability of online shopping deliveries versus only 50% of those 55 and older.
Brands are responding by switching to compostable mailer bags, implementing zero-waste production processes, partnering with local organic farms for ingredients, and transitioning to carbon-neutral shipping.
Additionally, some companies are changing their product offerings with initiatives like reusable container programs and carbon footprint labels to educate customers.
For example, Quorn uses carbon footprint labeling and makes climate change a key part of its messaging and brand:
A 2022 report by FMI and NielsenIQ revealed that 64% of shoppers would switch from a brand they usually buy to another that provides in-depth product information beyond nutrition facts.
Food ecommerce companies are responding with detailed ingredient lists, nutritional information, and sourcing details on product pages and packaging.
Certifications for organic, fair trade, non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan, and other dietary and ethical standards further validate claims and hold companies accountable.
Making your food ecommerce practices transparent is vital for building consumer trust, ensuring regulatory compliance, and mitigating health risks.
Transparency also provides a competitive advantage in a crowded market, attracting consumers with specific dietary and ethical requirements.
Beyond Meat is a top example of a company that knows its eco-conscious audience, prominently displaying clear certifications on all product images:
Subscriptions are revolutionizing food ecommerce, offering consumers convenience and variety while providing you with predictable revenue streams, stronger customer relationships, and opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.
Your food business can tap into this growing trend by offering curated or customizable meal boxes. Consider what sets your offerings apart, whether it’s unique cuisines, dietary specialties, or locally sourced ingredients.
Implement a user-friendly subscription model with flexible delivery options and pricing tiers to cater to diverse customer needs and preferences.
Ideally, your customers should be able to personalize and manage their subscriptions (pausing, skipping, or canceling) without contacting you.
A subscription app or plugin can make building subscriptions on your food ecommerce store easy. If your site is on WooCommerce, check out these options.
Need inspiration? British food retailer HelloFresh makes it easy to build a custom subscription and uses a time-sensitive offer to encourage signups:
Giving your customers greater control and personalization over their shipping and delivery choices can elevate their buying journey, ultimately boosting conversion rates.
Offering flexible payment methods, such as buy now pay later or mobile wallets, gives customers more choices and convenience at checkout.
Letting customers choose a delivery date and time slot reduces the likelihood of missed deliveries, which can impact customer satisfaction.
Personalization options like gift wrapping, blank packaging (for gifts), and offering checkout-exclusive bundles and discounts can increase your average order value and foster customer loyalty and repeat business.
You could even integrate an AI chatbot to answer questions for a more engaging and supportive experience. Huel provides an excellent example:
Personalizing your customer’s shopping experience is one of the best ways to increase sales and brand loyalty.
Product bundle recommendations based on purchase data can increase average order value, and tailored product suggestions using browsing and order history can help your customers discover complementary items more easily.
For instance, online grocery retailer Thrive Market lets customers use personalization filters to build grocery lists and access savings:
Marketing communications with birthday messages, abandoned cart reminders, and loyalty program reward notifications are also customizable.
Beyond product recommendations, you could automatically adjust currency, recommend shipping options during checkout, and let customers apply reward points to their basket to toggle money savings.
Custom discount codes are another fantastic initiative to increase sales. Present these at checkout to reduce abandoned carts or after your customer makes their first purchase to encourage repeat business.
7. Social commerce
Selling food products directly through social media platforms creates a more immersive and convenient shopping experience for customers, allowing you to reach new audiences and foster deeper brand loyalty.
The main social commerce platforms for food ordering are Facebook and Instagram, which have integrated shopping features like customizable storefronts and in-app checkout for customers to discover and purchase without leaving the app.
However, some brands prefer to use social commerce to send customers to their websites. For instance, Papa John’s Pizza uses its Start Order button on Facebook to send visitors to its homepage:
To maximize sales with social commerce, partner with food-focused influencers who can reach new audiences through authentic endorsements and encourage customers to share user-generated content that serves as social proof.
8. AI
Food ecommerce stores are using AI in every area of their business operations to enhance sales and customer experience.
Here are some of the most popular applications:
Chatbots and virtual assistants: These use a combination of generative AI and company data to handle questions, transactions, and orders, and provide personalized shopping advice
Personalized shopping features: Personalized product recommendations and “Customers also viewed” popups use AI and browsing and purchasing history to personalize the shopping experience
Check out Nike’s “You Might Also Like” section as an example:
Inventory management: AI can connect to your inventory database to provide insights into best sellers and slow-moving stock, as well as connect to your front end to alert customers about low stock and items running out fast
Dynamic pricing: AI can schedule bulk price changes in advance, increase/decrease prices based on demand, and set up personalized pricing rules for every shopping session
9. Focus on health and wellness
Over the last few years, there has been a significant shift in consumer focus on overall health rather than just weight loss.
More consumers are buying organic, non-GMO, minimal, and natural food products than ever before. This is partly because online shopping allows busy consumers to access healthy foods without visiting specialty stores.
Personalized nutrition and supplements are also gaining popularity as consumers look for unique ways to stay healthy. So-called “superfoods” like super greens and lion’s mane are two examples of the health food trend.
Super greens brand AG1 uses “whole body health” as its selling point:
To pivot your food ecommerce business to health and wellness, offer organic and functional products, educate customers, provide subscriptions, partner with dieticians, and emphasize transparency in sourcing and nutrition.
10. Direct-to-consumer (D2C) selling
Your food ecommerce store could benefit from a direct-to-consumer (DTC) model where it sells products directly to customers online and bypasses third-party retailers.
Eliminating middlemen will give you control over pricing, help you gather valuable customer data, and swiftly adapt your offerings to meet evolving consumer tastes.
A successful example is Heinz’s “Heinz to Home” service, which sells baked beans and other Heinz favorites directly to consumers:
If you’re new to D2C selling, you could offer bundled product deals, create limited-time flash sales, provide free shipping thresholds, and develop a referral program to incentivize recommendations and increase sales.
Another idea is using social media to build a community around your brand, sharing user-generated content and behind-the-scenes glimpses.
How to enable food ecommerce trends with omnichannel marketing
More and more, food ecommerce merchants are pursuing omnichannel marketing, as it provides them with ample opportunities to boost sales. But what is omnichannel marketing? In a nutshell, it’s marketing via interconnected, multiple channels, such as emails, SMS, and push notifications.
For example, Omnisend’s reports show that food ecommerce websites make good use of omnichannel marketing by using a combination of cart abandonment emails and SMS reminders.
Take a humble cookie vendor, for instance, a store that sells one box to a customer. With omnichannel marketing, they can create the following customer experience:
After the customer receives the box of colorful cookies, they receive a push notification asking them to share fun photos of the product across social media
If they engage with social media, tagging the vendor in their pictures or posting them on the vendor’s own social media, they’ll receive a discount on the platform, see a social media ad, or receive an email with the discount for their next purchase
They receive an SMS notifying them of new flavors, along with a discount
This integrated experience is the heart of omnichannel marketing, providing your customers with a more engaging experience that’s beneficial to them and your business. To understand how to use omnichannel marketing with food ecommerce, let’s explore some examples.
On the website
Email marketing may be the main method of reaching out to your audience, but a well-crafted website makes possible the most opportunities for marketing. Popups, banner ads, CTAs, and more — take advantage of all the ways you can engage with customers on your food ecommerce site.
For example, Omnisend client Little Waves notifies website visitors when a fellow customer makes a coffee bean purchase. This small popup shows that there are other customers engaging with the store.
While this technique helps establish a company’s prime product, it’s also a great way to showcase the lesser known.
Also worth considering are push notifications. They exist to enhance the ecommerce customer journey, and with food ecommerce stores, they can do so in a variety of ways. This includes alerting customers of upcoming sales, time-sensitive offers, and new products.
Once a customer is a subscriber, whether it’s after a purchase or signing up for deals and notifications, reach out to them with different email marketing campaigns. These include sending friendly welcome messages, following up with personalized recommendations, or reaching out after a cart abandonment.
Automated email campaigns save a lot of time and effort, especially when combined with segmentation. These types of emails have shown to have incredible results. For example, over half of recipients in 2020 made a purchase when receiving an automated welcome email, and approximately 34% of cart abandonment emails led to conversions.
In the case of food ecommerce, there’s plenty of potential for email campaigns, from post-purchase emails sent soon after checkout to campaigns dedicated to annual occasions.
Often underrated, SMS marketing is a simple but powerful tool to use in tandem with other marketing approaches. Whether it delivers an extra incentive during holiday promotions or casually reminds customers about their abandoned carts, SMS often serves as the perfect addition to traditional email marketing.
SMS marketing is easy to implement alongside marketing campaigns, especially when using omnichannel-focused platforms like Omnisend. Some of its strengths are unique to the channel, such as two-way SMS messaging, which offers customers a much more engaging and potentially helpful experience.
SMS can provide valuable services for food ecommerce, such as sending concise messages about new stock or with eye-catching discount codes. It’s especially beneficial for updating the customer with delivery information.
Social media
Social media is an outlet for advertising products, sharing important news, and simply engaging with customers in fun ways.
Food ecommerce can really shine on social media. Whether it’s asking customers to showcase your eye-catching food or working with influencers to concoct delicious-looking cocktails, food ecommerce can certainly engage with social media in an organic and effective way.
Food ecommerce businesses are finding new ways to connect with consumers and build better brand experiences in 2024.
Product personalization, subscriptions, buy now pay later, and AI chatbot integration are changing shopping experiences. Simultaneously, the industry is shifting as social commerce gains traction and more brands adopt direct-to-consumer selling models.
Omnichannel marketing strategies are helping businesses create more seamless, engaging customer experiences across multiple touchpoints, from email and SMS to social media and on-site interactions.
If any of these trends appeal to you, consider how they might be implemented in your food ecommerce business to drive growth and enhance customer satisfaction.
Omnisend makes building email and SMS marketing campaigns for ecommerce easy
Bernard is the Sr. Director of Communications & Creative at Omnisend, with a passion for good research, helping ecommerce businesses with their marketing automation needs, and beating absolutely everyone in Mario Kart 64.
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