Dive Brief:
- Grocery e-commerce sales jumped nearly 14% in August compared with the same month in 2024 to reach a record high of $11.2 billion, according to figures released by Brick Meets Click and Mercatus on Wednesday.
- The delivery and ship-to-home fulfillment methods both posted double-digit sales gains, but pickup sales were down.
- Walmart continued to make strong gains among digital grocery shoppers last month, underscoring the pressure the mass retailer is placing on traditional supermarket chains.
Dive Insight:
The delivery channel’s powerful performance last month reflected the channel’s rapidly rising popularity among grocery shoppers, who have steadily gravitated away from pickup after formerly preferring that method by a large margin.
Delivery accounted for 45% of online grocery sales in August, a figure that was up by 6 percentage points on a year-over-year basis. Pickup, however, lost market share by the same amount, while the ship-to-home channel saw a gain. Ship-to-home sales drew strength from Amazon, which announced a sharp expansion of its same-day perishable grocery delivery service last month, Brick Meets Click reported.
Delivery sales were up 30% in August compared with the same period in 2024, as the size of the typical order increased 10% and the channel’s base of monthly active users also expanded at a robust pace. Pickup sales, meanwhile, declined 4%, as a reduction in order frequency and spending that was below the rate of inflation both took their toll. But ship-to-home sales, which include orders handled by third-party delivery services such as FedEx and UPS, increased 19%, as more people used the channel, customers placed orders more often and the average order size grew.
Across fulfillment methods, the monthly active users base inched up 1% in August, due in large part to the return of infrequent or lapsed shoppers. In addition, penetration among shoppers in the 18-29 and 45-60 age ranges increased. The delivery channel’s monthly active user base expanded 11% last month, while pickup posted a gain in the low single digits.
Brick Meets Click noted that the number of households that rely on more than one online fulfillment method rose in August. The share of customers who placed an e-grocery order with a mass retailer in addition to a supermarket or discounter was up significantly during the month, a trend that particularly benefitted Walmart, the research firm said.
“To compete effectively, regional grocers must focus on retaining their newer and less frequent online customers and providing a seamless, multi-faceted digital experience that reinforces loyalty and minimizes reasons to shop with rivals,” David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, said in a statement.
