The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
Costco and Walmart have been the big market share gainers in grocery over the past several years. But both those companies recently took a back seat to another high-profile competitor.
After posting an almost-nonexistent market share gain between mid-2020 and mid-2025, the combined Amazon and Whole Foods Market grew its grocery market share by a respectable 0.6 percentage points over the 12-month period that ended June 30, to 4%, according to Numerator data. That was the biggest gain among the grocers measured by the data firm during that period.
So what happened? In a word: e-commerce. While most other grocers have been focusing on their stores, Amazon jettisoned its Fresh and Go locations and leaned into online grocery. It added perishables to its same-day delivery service in markets across the U.S. starting last summer, and expanded its availability of fresh groceries through its rapid delivery service, Amazon Now.
Amazon is clearly focused on what it does best — convenience. Its same-day and 30-minute expansions target small, fill-in shops that more consumers are prioritizing and that most other grocers struggle to serve up in a cost-effective manner online due to high fees and the economics of picking orders inside stores.
CEO Andy Jassy called out the success of Amazon’s same-day perishables program during the company’s earnings call on Thursday. He said 90% of the top 10 best-selling items in the cities where the same-day delivery service is offered are perishable items and noted the number of monthly active perishable customers has grown 50% since the start of the year.
“We’ve tried lots of experiments over the last few years … but we have finally found something that is a real needle mover for us in offering perishables in our same-day facilities,” Jassy said.
Of course, Amazon’s recent share gain may prove to be nothing more than a sugar rush unless the company can figure out how to drive more shoppers to build bigger grocery baskets. Its dearth of physical grocery stores — Whole Foods aside — lowers its ceiling here.
In case you missed it
Albertsons adds financial employee benefit
The grocery company teamed up with Stream, a workplace benefit provider, to offer all its employees access to a suite of financial tools, according to a Tuesday press release.
Every Albertsons employee can now access Stream’s full product suite, which includes the option to withdraw a portion of their earned, unpaid wages before the scheduled payday. Other tools include the ability to track and budget earnings, learn from specialist financial education resources, and have greater visibility of their day-to-day money management and long-term financial planning.
Afresh grows partnership with Heinen’s
Heinen’s is expanding its deployment of Afresh’s technology by introducing the food waste solution company’s Period Ending Inventory tool, which uses artificial intelligence to provide an estimate of items remaining in a store after closing, across all fresh departments, including produce, meat and deli, cheese, and bakery, according to a Wednesday press release. This move puts Heinen’s fresh perimeter on one artificial intelligence platform for both ordering and inventory management.
Mamdani unveils 30% discount at municipal grocery stores
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, along with Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su and the New York City Economic Development Corporation, announced Monday that a “core basket” of grocery essentials will be 30% cheaper at five upcoming municipal grocery stores in the city. The discount will apply regardless of an individual’s income, “with prices locked in and predictable rather than fluctuating week to week as is the case at private grocers,” according to the city’s announcement.
Mamdani also issued a request for proposals from “qualified grocers or firms” to handle store operations for one or more of the planned municipal stores.
Impulse find
The Giant Company wants to play ball
Grocery companies are no strangers to the sports world, and now The Giant Company is taking to the collegiate field.
Penn State Athletics announced this week it has named Giant its “Official Grocery Partner” with category exclusivity. This announcement makes Giant the first cornerstone partner of the newly renovated West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium at the university, the announcement noted.
As the inaugural cornerstone partner, Giant will get a custom gate sponsorship at the stadium. The tie-up also includes one-of-one entitlements, premium signage, in-venue promotions, football and basketball pregame activities and other assets across Penn State Athletics.
It’s also a home run for Giant customers. To kick off the partnership, unique promotions and other activations for its customers will take effect in the coming months, and storefronts in the Penn State campus neighborhood will serve as “Game Day Pin pickup locations” ahead of each home game. Nittany Lion swag will also be sold at select Giant locations. Giant is even pitching in to help with student move-ins, offering special bundles for online shoppers geared toward making the transition easier.
