The U.S. online grocery market ended November with $9.6 billion in monthly sales, a 17.8% increase over last year as all three fulfillment methods posted year-over-year (YOY) sales gains, according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopper Survey.
The overall monthly active user (MAU) base, which includes households that used any of the three fulfillment methods during November 2024, surged 15%, the second strongest YOY percentage change since August 2021. The new record of 77.8 million households that bought groceries online in November broke the previous record high set during April 2020. During November, 72% of overall MAUs used only one fulfillment method, up more than 400 basis points (bps) vs. 2023.
“Supermarkets experienced a significant surge in their MAU base, benefitting from widespread and deep discounts on membership and subscription programs offered by both national and regional grocers throughout November,” says David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click. “And, while that’s a positive sign for Supermarkets, the race to retain customers and grow share-of-wallet with them is only intensifying among rivals.”
Key takeaways:
- Delivery sales jumped to $3.9 billion, up 22% compared to a year ago, accounting for 40.6% of all e-grocery sales. An 8% increase in the MAU base and higher order activity led to the surge in sales, while the average order value (AOV) remained flat vs. last year. Delivery results for November extend the segment’s strong growth trend that began in June 2024, fueled by the ongoing waves of deep-discounted offers on membership and subscription programs from various retailers and providers which first started appearing in May.
- Pick-up posted $3.9 billion in sales, an 8% YOY increase, ending the month with 41.3% of total e-grocery sales. A 9% expansion of pickup’s MAU base drove order volume gains despite a slight contraction in order frequency. And AOV fell by about 4.5% compared to 2023 due mainly to a pullback among the youngest household group (18–29-year-olds).
- Ship-to-home continued to reclaim lost share after bottoming out during 2022, as sales jumped to $1.7 billion in November, up more than 30% YOY to end the month with 18.1% of online sales. The MAU base for ship-to-home expanded at the fastest rate of all three fulfillment methods in November, increasing more than 11%. A slight increase in order frequency, combined with the rapid MAU growth, aided in generating a strong surge in order volume. And, the nearly 12% lift in AOV suggests that other factors, like product mix, may have played a role in November’s results.
- In contrast, the MAU base for mass expanded by less than 1% as it lapped an extremely strong user growth in 2023, and maintains the largest share of MAUs across the formats. Mass reported strong gains in order frequency as its MAUs (including all three methods) completed 9% more orders than last year. However, the combined AOV for delivery and pickup for mass did slide slightly in November while its AOV for ship-to-home posted double-digit gains.
- Customer satisfaction with e-grocery services climbed in November as the overall repeat intent rate reached 65.2%, the highest score in the last four years and the third highest since the onset of COVID in March 2020.
"Driving larger orders and fostering repeat purchases requires creating a more personalized and seamless online grocery shopping experience," says Mark Fairhurst, chief growth officer at Mercatus. "By offering tailored product recommendations based on customer preferences and lifestyles, alongside easy-to-use rewards programs and intuitive navigation, grocers can strengthen customer loyalty, build trust, and sustain long-term growth in the online grocery space."
