Dive Brief:
- Monthly online grocery sales rose 29% year-over-year in November to $12.3 billion, with increased order frequency as one of the main drivers behind the strong performance, Brick Meets Click and Mercatus reported Tuesday.
- Delivery, pickup and ship-to-home all saw growth last month as monthly active users using only one receiving method hit one of its lowest levels on record, Brick Meets Click reported.
- Last month marked a “strong rebound versus the moderate growth reported for October when the U.S. government was shut down,” Brick Meets Click Partner David Bishop said in a statement, noting the growth rate for online grocery has accelerated every November since 2022.
Dive Insight:
November marked the 15th consecutive month of order frequency growth and saw monthly active users complete an average of 2.8 orders — a record high, according to Brick Meets Click and Mercatus’ latest report.
Along with order frequency climbing 12% year-over-year last month, increased use of multiple receiving methods and higher spending rates contributed to the “dramatic acceleration” of online grocery sales in November, per the press release. This, in turn, led all three receiving methods to see double-digit growth among active users last month.
Ship-to-home sales increased 12% year-over-year, marking the strongest gains of the three receiving methods, largely thanks to the ongoing rollout of Amazon’s same-day perishable food delivery service. Pickup posted an 11% increase, and delivery trailed slightly compared to the prior year with an 8% lift — a notable shift for the category that has outperformed its counterparts throughout most of 2025.
“Today’s grocers face a very competitive environment marked by fundamental changes in shopping behavior,” Bishop said in a statement. “The online grocery customer pool continues to expand, order frequency has steadily grown for over a year, and spending remains resilient which shows that eGrocery is evolving from just a convenient option to the preferred way to get groceries for many.”
The average value for online grocery orders ticked up 11% in November compared to the year prior, and e-grocery’s share of weekly grocery spending reached just over 17%, up 340 basis points year-over-year. Brick Meets Click noted that the share expansion was fueled by higher spending rates in large metro markets by the 30- to 44-year-old group and by high-income households.
