Considering that the move to e-commerce in food, beverage, and alcohol industries is less advanced than other product categories, there is still space for the expansion of the online trading market in such products. Imports of fruit and vegetables are increasing, which means that direct-to-store or direct-to-consumer logistics methods should continue to expand. While orientating themselves to cultivate fruit and vegetables that can be differentiated from imported produce, producers of agricultural products have the opportunity to utilize online channels for sales, focusing on processed goods. Given the tight business environment, it is not possible to say that a large number of family-owned farms are anticipating growth in the future; however, we can speculate that there will be growth in agricultural organizations, and in the online market for fruit and vegetables and related processed goods. In recent years, the number of agricultural organizations has been increasing. If this trend continues, the number of such organizations drawn to online sales will also increase and the online market for fruit and vegetables and related processed goods can be expected to expand.
Considering online purchases of food by females in households of two or more people in Tokyo and three other prefectures in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, 14.8% had made online purchases of “meat and related processed products,” “seafood and related processed products,” and “fruit and related processed products,” with 12.8% doing so regularly. For consumers, it may be that the online purchase characteristics of these three product categories differ in lifestyle grouping. The Naïve Group, with a relatively high online shopping frequency, comprises a small proportion of the whole, which is one reason why the use of online food purchase channels is not particularly popular today. Both the Frugal Group and the Cool Group have high levels of younger consumers, who do not tend to purchase differentiated fruit and vegetables. Agricultural organizations can increase demand by targeting the Achiever Group （who are comparatively older and proactive in their use of online shopping） and selling differentiated fruit and vegetables or luxury produce through online channels.
