In October, the U.S. online grocery market increased by 5 percent versus last year, ending with $8.2 billion in sales, according to the latest monthly Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey fielded October 30-31. Mass retailers, along with grocery delivery, have helped drive the topline sales gain for the format.
“The Mass format, and particularly Walmart, continues to attract a larger share of MAUs [monthly active users] as U.S. households search for ways to save money,” said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, in a statement. “The share of MAUs who bought from Mass has grown over 11 percentage points since last year, finishing at more than 50 percent this October.”
Higher average order values, especially in delivery, offset a slowdown in total order volume for the month. Additionally, there are signs that U.S. households may be attempting to economize as mass continued to experience gains in its MAU base, average order value, and order frequency versus a year ago, and the rate of cross-shopping between grocery and mass reached a record high of 34 percent.
Key findings from the report include:
• While the number of households receiving one or more online grocery orders during October was relatively unchanged versus a year ago, pickup expanded its MAU base by 6 percent (versus 2 percent for delivery), while Ship-to-Home contracted by 6 percent.
• The mass retailer MAU base surged, growing 29 percent on a year-over-year basis, continuing a “flight-to-value” type of shopping behavior that has been seen for the last several months.
• The topline average order value rose nearly 9 percent versus last year as spending per order climbed across all three receiving methods (pickup, delivery, and ship-to-home); the average order value posted for delivery had a 10 percent increase, pickup increased by 6 percent, and ship-to-home increased by 5 percent.
• Online sales across all formats accounted for 12.5 percent of total weekly grocery spending during the last week of October, increasing 90 basis points versus last year.
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