August 2020 Scorecard: Online grocery market rebalancing after COVID Spike

Q4 results to be released in early Dec 2020 - Stay tuned

Topline: August 2020

U.S. grocery delivery and pickup sales for August 2020 totaled $5.7 billion, down from June’s peak, but other key performance indicators showed strength in a market that’s five times larger than one year ago when it totaled just $1.2 billion.

Market rebalancing

Many have been anticipating there would be a drop from peak COVID sales for grocery delivery and pickup at some point -– the question was when and how much.

Now that we have seen the expected adjustment in total sales, we have a better idea of what the market will look like going forward.  We see a large base of committed shoppers which shows signs that the online grocery pickup and delivery market is substantial and can be expected to strengthen.

August SCORECARD

According the new August 2020 Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey , in the last 30 days, online grocery shoppers are:

Buying more and ordering more frequently . Average order value for online grocery pickup and delivery increased to a record high of $95 – 32% higher than a year ago – and active online grocery shoppers placed 1.6 orders per month compared to 1.0 in August 2019.

More committed. Intent to make a repeat purchase in the next month with the last service used reached 75%. This level of repeat intent is a significant improvement from June,  highlighting how improved retail conditions are leading to stronger shopping experiences. (See graphic at end of post).

A much larger base than a year ago. Approximately 37.5 million, or 29% of all US households, are considered monthly active users of these services in August 2020 compared to 16.1 million one year ago. This represents a 133% increase in the number of active households placing at least one delivery or pickup order during the past month.

About the research

The ongoing research provides an update on key performance metrics forUS online grocery orders fulfilled by delivery or pickup for the past 30days . (Note: The metrics exclude online grocery orders that are shipped to home via common or contract carriers.)

Brick Meets Click conducted this online survey August 24-26, 2020 with 1,817 adults, 18 years and older, who participated in the household’s grocery shopping.

• Results were adjusted based internet usage among US adults, 18 years and older, according to the Pew Research Center, to account for the non-response bias associated with online surveys.
• Responses were also weighted by age to reflect the national population of adults, 18 years and older, during each respective year, according to the US Census Bureau.

A similar methodology in terms of survey design, timing, and sampling was used with each of the surveys fielded in 2020: June 24-25 (n=1,781, May 20-22 (n=1,724), April 22-24 (n= 1,651), and March 23-25 (n=1,601).

The 2019 results are based on a similar survey conducted on August 21-23, 2019 with 2,485 adults, 18 years and older.

Thanks to Mercatus

We thank the team at Mercatus for their generous support of the August research wave. Click here to see the September 10, 2020 press release  .

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