The total U.S. online grocery market posted $9.3 billion in sales in January as more than 69.7 million U.S. households placed on average 2.8 orders across delivery, pick-up and ship-to-home, according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey.
The delivery and pick-up segment captured $7.1 billion, accounting for 77% of all online grocery spending during the month.
“Even though many grocers remain capacity constrained – especially with pick-up – others are growing market share as they staff up or expand pickup to a larger store base,” says David Bishop, partner, Brick Meets Click. “While throwing more labor at the issue isn’t ideal, this, along with improving assembling productivities via enhanced pick and pack practices, is vital to remaining competitive in the near term and not inadvertently giving your customer a reason to shop elsewhere.”
“It’s clear from the data that retailers will face a challenge in holding on to a lot of online shoppers as experience is not meeting expectations,” says Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO, Mercatus. “To remain competitive with mass merchandisers, regional grocers need to enhance the digital shopping experience so as not to give their customers a reason to spend their money elsewhere. Grocers have to look at where they can improve operationally, how they can efficiently scale to meet online demand, and which services will be most effective at revenue protection going forward.”
From Brick Meets Click:
- Total sales grew 15% in January 2021 vs. November 2020, driven largely by a 16% increase in the number of households buying online.
- The average order value decreased nearly 11% in January vs. November 2020.
- January’s drop in repeat intent scores can be partially explained by shifts in the customer mix, but retail conditions are also a factor.
