A new report has forecasted global food e-commerce sales to nearly triple through 2023, rising to US$321 billion and accounting for nearly 5 per cent of total e-commerce revenues.

The Global Food E-Commerce report, released by market research firm Packaged Facts, projects the Asia Pacific region will account for the majority of absolute growth, primarily due to the rapidly expanding Chinese market.

China dominates regional e-grocery activity in part because of the country’s large urban population and rapidly expanding middle class. In addition, much of China’s large population has access to high-tech devices and the ability to shop online, due to the country’s position at the forefront of technological development and electronics.

Last year, more than 75 per cent of global food e-commerce sales were concentrated in the top five markets: China, the US, Japan, the UK, and South Korea. In each of these countries, e-grocery spending is highest in large urban centers, where many retailers have focused their marketing efforts for home delivery or click-and-collect services.

The report states that through 2023, demand growth in these countries will be driven by five key factors: increasing comfort among existing online shoppers in making routine grocery purchases online; growing use of subscriptions and memberships with online retailers; greater penetration of broadband internet in rural and remote areas; greater acceptance of (and investment in) home delivery, click-and-collect, and drive order fulfillment formats in an increasingly omnichannel retail environment; and improvements to data security that ease consumer fears about having their personal information stolen while shopping online.

This story first appeared on sister site Inside Retail Asia.