Online Grocery Sales Increase 8% in June, Delivery Up 18%

Online grocery sales in the United States are on the rise, hitting $7.7 billion, an 8% increase compared to the same period last year. According to the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopper Survey, this growth was driven by a leap in delivery sales, which surged by 18% year-over-year to reach $2.9 billion.

“Delivery’s strong performance in June likely benefited from the promotional offers made last month, first by Instacart and then by Walmart,” said David Bishop, Partner at Brick Meets Click. “These promotions offered deep discounts on annual membership fees, boosting both monthly active users and order frequency for delivery services.”

Despite the increased performance of delivery services, pickup sales remained flat at $3.5 billion. Although the monthly active user (MAU) base for pickup expanded slightly, a combination of lower average order value (AOV) and a decline in order frequency offset these gains. Pickup still holds the largest share of online grocery sales at 45%, although this is a slight decrease from last year.

Ship-to-home sales also showed strong growth, rising by 10% year-over-year to $1.3 billion. This marks the fourth consecutive month of gains for this segment, driven by higher spending per order despite a small dip in the MAU base and order frequency. Ship-to-home captured nearly 17% of the online grocery market in June.

The overall online grocery MAU base expanded by nearly 4% in June compared to the previous year. This increase was largely due to reactivating lapsed users who gave the service another chance. However, the total number of households that have ever bought groceries online grew by just 0.14%, indicating that the growth is mainly coming from existing customers making additional orders.

Cross-shopping rates remained high, with nearly one in three customers buying groceries online from both grocery and mass retailers in June. The survey revealed that 22% of grocery customers received online orders from Walmart, an increase of 1.5% compared to last year.

“Regional grocers need to stem the tide and regain market share by leveling the playing field against mass merchants, despite these rivals having a price advantage,” said Mercatus Chief Growth Officer Mark Fairhurst. “Integrating personalized and targeted promotions into their first-party platform experience will be key to re-engaging lapsed customers and improving repeat purchase rates. Additionally, incorporating high-level, in-store customer service into the digital experience – a strength that regionals are known for – will be crucial and can give them an advantage over their mass competitors.”