U.S. consumers are predicted to continue migrating online for grocery shopping, with a new study suggesting online grocery sales will expand an additional 15% during 2019, increasing the overall share captured online in 2019 to 6.3%; however, providers that offer delivery and pickup are expected to grow their online sales between 25% and 30%, according to grocery research firm, Brick Meets Click.
Although the forecast indicates that a larger share of online spending for groceries will shift toward the brick-and-mortar retailers offering these services, the gains will not be evenly distributed.
Brick Meets Click listed a few factors that are driving this continued shift toward delivery and grocery pickup services, including more households gaining access to delivery and pickup as options expand.
“Increasing the number of households who have access to online grocery shopping services with home delivery or pickup could add almost two points to the percentage of U.S. households who buy groceries online, pushing the 2019 monthly rate past 25% at the national level,” said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click. “At the same time, this will offer a meaningful boost to particular providers in those market areas, as we expect that most of the sales generated by new households going online for groceries will flow toward the brick-and-mortar delivery or pickup providers.”
Brick Meets Click also found that, compared to households that use Amazon, households using an online grocery delivery or pickup service place more frequent orders (1.9 vs. 1.6 orders per month), and spend considerably more money per order (an average of $105 vs. $46). This equates to households spending almost three times more with a delivery or pickup service versus Amazon on a monthly basis ($200 vs. $74 respectively).
