Grocery Trends with Brick Meets Click – June 2022 Insights

Overview

The eGrocery industry in June 2022 experienced higher sales compared to last year, with total revenue up 6% over the previous 12 months. The growth is fueled largely by inflation and COVID—the two biggest drivers of shopping behavior right now according to Brick Meets Click’s David Bishop —as well as new variants that have caused surges among shoppers during May & June who want protection against contracting the virus.

The largest segment of eGrocery, Pickup performed well with its June and second quarter sales rising 3% respectively versus a year ago. An expanding monthly active user (MAU) base was offset by lower order frequency among its MAUs during both periods; however for the second half of 2022 it contributed 45.7% more than last time which is due to growth in online grocery shopping.

Grocery delivery services have seen a range of new features and options over the past few months that stimulate more usage occasions. Delivery monthly sales jumped 20%, ending quarter 6% higher than last year’s results—gains from MAU bases contributed largely to both period’s market share gains while higher AOVs also helped contribute positively in comparison with order frequency increases during June but declining ones for this very same reason: it is pushing forward towards an online grocery dollar share reaching 34%.

The Ship-to-Home segment continued a long term decline that started at the onset of pandemic in March 2020 when online grocery shopping evolved rapidly to meet new needs. Year over year, sales fell 14% with June being more than 10%. While still growing MAU bases were behind this trend alongside minor contractions in monthly orders placed; dollar share decreased 2 percentage points from last quarter due largely because less goods are ordered each month while freight rates increase steadily every day.

Cross-shopping between grocery and mass stores declined in June to 27%, about 1.5 percentage points lower than last year. These trends point to a rapidly evolving eGrocery landscape and suggest that retailers need to be prepared to adapt to changing consumer behavior.

Some grocery retailers may be struggling to keep up with evolving market challenges. To combat inflation and infection, consumers are craving safety, convenience and saving money. Many grocery chains have turned towards online shopping to not only serve consumer needs but also offer deals on lower priced pickup services or promoting private label products that can help decrease costs while still providing quality food options at affordable prices.

Lastly, the total online grocery sales finished the quarter at 13.6%, up 1.5% versus last year. Excluding Ship-to-Home (since most conventional grocers don’t offer this service), grocery delivery and grocery pickup accounted for 10.9% of total retail sales during the second quarter of this year compared to 9% prior.

Read the full June 2022 U.S. eGrocery Survey press release here.