U.S. online grocery market continues to grow, with sales reaching $7.7 billion in June

Recently, according to foreign media reports, the US online grocery market sales in June reached 7.7 billion US dollars, an increase of 8.0% year-on-year. This growth is partly due to the significant increase in delivery services and takeaway sales, showing consumers' continued demand for convenience.

According to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopper Survey, promotions drove a surge in home delivery sales. Ship-to-Home had strong results due to increased spending per order, while Pickup remained stable year-over-year.

Delivery sales jumped to $2.9 billion in June, up 18% year-over-year. While average order value (AOV) declined, a surge in the monthly active user (MAU) base and increased order activity drove year-over-year growth. Delivery grew 325 basis points (bps) year-over-year and accounted for 38% of e-grocery sales in June.

Sales of pickup services in June were $3.5 billion, essentially unchanged from the same period last year, despite a single-digit increase in MAUs. Slightly lower AOV and a decline in order frequency offset the positive impact of a larger MAU base. As a result, Pickup's share of e-grocery June sales fell 352 basis points year-over-year to 45%, but it still leads the pack.

Home delivery sales in June increased nearly 10% from a year ago to $1.3 billion, marking the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year growth. Higher order values ​​drove sales growth despite a 1% contraction in the MAU base and a decrease in order frequency. Home delivery services accounted for nearly 17% of e-grocery sales in June, up 26 basis points from a year ago.

Compared to June 2023, the MAU group for e-grocery as a whole expanded by nearly 4%, while the total number of households that had ever purchased groceries online grew by only 14 basis points over the same period. The gap between these two indicators suggests that the increase in users in June 2024 was mainly due to infrequent users placing orders again or lapsed users returning to online shopping.

Cross-shopping rates remained high in June 2024, as nearly a third of customers purchased both groceries and wholesale products online in the previous month. In June, the percentage of customers who shopped from wholesale retailers (including supermarkets and discount stores) reached 31.6%, and the percentage of customers who shopped from Walmart reached nearly 22%, an increase of 150 basis points from last year.

Despite the overall sales growth, some loyal customers’ purchase intentions declined. The overall repeat intention rate in June, which measures the likelihood that a customer will shop with an e-grocery service again within the next 30 days, fell nearly 7 percentage points to 56.0% compared with last year.

In addition, wholesale retailers have a larger share of household grocery shopping. In June 2024, wholesale retailers' share increased by about 190 basis points from the previous year to 42%, while supermarket retailers' share decreased by 250 basis points to 39%. The main reason for the change in share is that households with annual incomes below $50,000 mainly buy groceries at wholesale retailers.

Mark Fairhurst, chief growth officer at Mercatus, said that despite these competitors’ price advantages, sellers can resist competitive pressure and win back market share through personalised and targeted promotions, as well as providing a high level of in-store digital experience services.

Overall, these trends and data suggest that the U.S. online grocery market continues to thrive, but it is necessary to closely monitor changes in customer loyalty and purchasing intent to remain competitive in the market.

Author✎ Summer/
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