Paper short abstract:

Online food shopping offers an alternative to an activity that often prescribe car trips, namely grocery shopping. The paper suggest that in order to reach the potential energy savings of e-commerce we need to understand how potential users experience grocery shopping.

Paper long abstract:

Online food shopping offers an alternative to an everyday life activity that often prescribe car trips, namely grocery shopping. A growing market of online food shopping services enable distributors to control "the last mile", where the products reach the consumers. However, in order to meet the energy saving potential of online food shopping there are several problems to address. Increased e-commerce does not necessarily mean an increase in car use (Börjesson Rivera et. al 2014). Frith (2012) suggests that instead of replacing physical mobility, e-commerce change our understanding of space. Online grocery shopping is potentially a technology that allow consumers to control their mobility. STS literature have taught us that technology is never accessible to all users. Social, economic and spatial contexts exclude a number of users (Oudshoorn & Pinch 2003). Does everyone want to "avoid the pitfalls of urban life" (Graham & Marvin 2001)? Through focus group conversations with informants that does not use online grocery shopping services today, this paper analyze the notion of "excluded users". Is it possible that grocery shopping is a meaningful activity? Could "non-user" be a user identity by choice rather than exclusion? The paper suggest that in order to understand the process of inclusion/exclusion we need to listen to how non-user describe and experience grocery shopping. This paper contributes empirically to the study of food consumption and from a user perspective discuss the possibility to reach sustainable food systems.