June U.S. eGrocery sales total $7.2 billion, up 6% versus prior year

Top Line

Total U.S. online grocery sales in June climbed 6% year over year to$7.2 billion, and for the second quarter, eGrocery posted $22.4 billion in sales, a gain of 1% compared to 2Q 2021, according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey fielded June 29-30, 2022. (See Figures 1 & 2 below)

“Inflation and COVID are creating cross-currents in the market as higher prices motivate customers to look for ways to avoid paying more than necessary, and ongoing concerns about contracting the virus motivate shoppers to use online grocery as a way to stay healthy,” said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click. “This is especially true as new variants of the virus triggered surges in infection and rising illness rates during May and June.”

Figure 1

Figure 2

Key Findings & Insights

Pickup

Pickup, the largest segment of eGrocery, performed well.

• June sales ($3.4 billion) and second quarter sales ($10.2 billion) rose 3% respectively versus a year ago.
• An expanding monthly active user (MAU) base and higher average order values (AOVs) were offset by lower order frequency among its MAUs during both periods.
• For Q2 of 2022, Pickup contributed 45.7% of total eGrocery sales, up 80 basis points versus 2021.

Delivery

Delivery has benefited from a range of new service options and features that have enlarged the size of its addressable market and stimulated more usage occasions.

• Delivery’s monthly sales ($2.5 billion) jumped over 20%, and it finished Q2 at ($7.7 billion), 6% higher than year-ago results.
• Gains in the MAU base during both periods drove most of the sales lift, although higher AOVs also contributed to the YOY gains.
• Delivery reported mixed results relative to order frequency as frequency increased during June but declined for the quarter.
• Delivery captured 34.2% of the online grocery dollar share for Q2, up 1.7 percentage points from 2021.

Ship-to-Home

Ship-to-Home continues a long-term decline that started at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 when online grocery shopping began to evolve rapidly to meet new needs.

• YOY, Ship-to-Home sales fell over 14% in June ($1.3 billion) and by more than 10% for Q2 to ($4.5 billion).
• The segment’s MAU base grew over both periods, but consistently lower AOVs drove the sales decline along with a slight contraction in the number of orders placed each month.
• Ship-to-Home dollar share for Q2 was 20.0%, down 2.6 percentage points versus last year.

Cross-shopping between Grocery and Mass drops but remains above 1 in 4.

• During June, cross-shopping between Grocery and Mass declined to 27%,about 1.5 percentage points lower than last year, which may be attributed to fewer households shopping with Mass during the month.
• During Q2, the share of the Grocery MAU base that also shopped online with Mass came in at 28%, up slightly more than 1percentage point compared to the second quarter of 2021.

Repeat intent: Overall level holding steady as Mass holds top spot.

• The likelihood that an online grocery shopper will use the same service again within the next month remained steady at 63% for each month in Q2 of 2022.
• This year’s Q2 average repeat intent rate climbed 7 points versus the same period a year ago.
• For June 2022, Mass was 8 percentage points above Grocery, underscoring the gap that grocers still need to close to protect their core customers.

Sponsor Message & Appreciation

“Despite the current inflationary environment, a significant number of grocery customers continue to shop using online channels,” said Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO, Mercatus. “Customers crave convenience, but they also want to find ways to save money. Encouraging customers to use lower priced pickup services is one opportunity. Elevating and showcasing private label products online is another. Also consider integrating digital coupons into your first-party web and mobile experiences.”

We thank the team at Mercatus for their continued generous support of this research. Click here to see the July 13, 2022 press release .

About this Consumer Research

The Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey is an ongoing independent research initiative created and conducted by Brick Meets Click and sponsored by Mercatus.

Brick Meets Click conducted the survey on June 29-30, 2022, with 1,743 adults, 18 years and older, who participated in the household’s grocery shopping. This research is scheduled to run monthly through 2022; then the cadence will be reevaluated to best suit the industry’s needs.The three receiving methods for online grocery orders are defined as follows:

• Ship-to-Home includes orders that are received via common or contract carriers like FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.
• Delivery includes orders received from a first- or third-party provider like Instacart, Shipt or the retailer's own employees.
• Pickup (aka curbside) includes orders that are received by customers either inside or outside a store or at a designated location/locker.

Results were adjusted based on internet usage among U.S. adults to account for the non-response bias associated with online surveys. Responses are geographically representative of the U.S. and weighted by age to reflect the national population of adults, 18 years and older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Brick Meets Click used a similar methodology for each of the prior surveys conducted in 2022 - May 28-29 (n=1,802), Apr. 28-29 (n= 1,746), Mar. 28-29 (n= 1,681), Feb. 26-27 (n=1,790),and Jan. 29-30 (n=1,793); in 2021 – Dec. 29-30 (n = 1,836), Nov. 29-30 (n=1,785), Oct. 29-30 (n=1,751), Sept. 28-29 (n=1,728), Aug. 29-30 (n=1,806), July 29-30 (n=1,892), June 27-28 (n=1,789), May 28-30 (n=1,872), Apr. 26-28 (n=1,941), Mar. 26-28 (n=1,811), Feb. 26-28 (n= 1,812), and Jan. 28-31 (n=1,776); in 2020 – Nov. 11-14 (n=2,067), Aug. 24-26 (n=1,817), Jun. 24-25 (n=1,781), May 20-22 (n=1,724), Apr. 22-24 (n= 1,651), and Mar. 23-25 (n=1,601); and in 2019 – Aug. 22-24 (n = 2,485).