Dive Brief:
- Grocery e-commerce sales totaled $9.5 billion in September, an increase of 27% compared with the same period in 2023, Brick Meets Click and Mercatus reported on Friday.
- Pickup comprised 42% of online grocery sales last month, just ahead of delivery. The ship-to-home channel claimed a share of about 18%.
- All three online grocery fulfillment channels posted double-digit growth in September, with delivery leading the way by a significant margin.
Dive Insight:
Delivery has powered growth in the grocery e-commerce sector since earlier this year, and the channel built on that momentum last month as it posted sales of $3.9 billion, a 50% year-over-year increase. Pickup sales moved ahead by nearly 10% in September, to $4 billion, while ship-to-home sales surged 30%, to $1.7 billion.
All three channels benefited last month from a broader base of monthly active users and higher average order values, Brick Meets Click reported. Notably, order frequency rose for the delivery and ship-to-home channels but declined slightly for pickup, according to the report.
The findings reflect a survey of 1,740 shoppers Brick Meet Click fielded Sept. 29-30.
In a sign of delivery’s rising popularity with grocery shoppers, more than 47% of monthly active users chose that fulfillment channel for at least one order — the highest level Brick Meets Click said it has ever seen. On the other hand, the size of the average order grew more slowly for the delivery channel than for the ship-to-home or pickup fulfillment methods, according to the research.
Brick Meets Click noted that the robust online sales figures the industry posted in September are likely attributable to delivery partners driving interest in their offerings through promotions linked to their membership or subscription programs.
Beyond their strong growth in September, digital grocery sales were also up sharply in the third quarter, according to data Brick Meets Click and Mercatus released on Monday.
Grocery e-commerce sales totaled $27.4 billion during the quarter —- an increase largely driven by delivery, Brick Meets Click found. Delivery sales were 25% during the quarter, well ahead of the 15% and 5% respective gains for ship-to-home and pickup channels.
The data also highlight the growing divide between mass retailers and traditional grocers on the e-commerce front. During the third quarter, mass retailers boosted their share of the delivery space by almost 4 percentage points, to about 53%, even as supermarket operators’ share slipped to just under 38%, a drop of more than 2 percentage points.
The third-quarter grocery e-commerce results “underscore the importance of strengthening the customer value proposition to align better with the evolving expectations associated with shopping online for groceries,” David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, said in a statement.
“Mass, and Walmart in particular, have demonstrated the value of better understanding online shoppers’ preferences while also leveraging its vast store network and digital reach to grow faster than the overall market,” Bishop said.
