Obstacles and opportunities for online grocery shopping [infographic]Obstacles and opportunities for online grocery shopping [infographic]

Everyone’s doing it—from Google to Whole Foods Market to Target. Analysts have predicted that online grocery could become a $100 billion business by 2019.

But groceries pose a few unique challenges that other consumer goods don’t when it comes to buying and selling online. For one, they require careful storage and handling. And, grocery shopping is often driven by the experience of seeing, touching, smelling and even tasting products—something that can’t be duplicated online.

Mobile market research firm Field Agent conducted surveys with more than 500 people in seven cities designated as test markets for grocery pickup/delivery services to measure their attitudes toward traditional brick-and-mortar grocery shopping and online grocery shopping. While respondents seemed relatively content with grocery shopping the traditional way, some of the survey results revealed opportunities for growth of grocery delivery and pickup.