The e-commerce sales were 9% higher in August verses previous year, totaling $9.3 billion. Of those sales, the pickup services offered by e-commerce were about three quarters of sales. Although supermarkets partake in e-commerce sales, it’s the big giants such as Target and Walmart that continue to market their online grocery programs, leading the growth in this online segment.
An August survey found that $4.1 billion in sales were picked up while ship-to-home were $1.6 billion, both showing significant increases of 17% and 14%, with pickup as the top used e-commerce grocery service. Pickup and ship-to-home both saw increases of around 10%, delivery comes in third with a 5% decrease in usage. Amazon had a part in the ship-to-home revival with their Subscribe & Save program.
Mass markets are continuing to take the lead as customers are leaning in towards their monthly e-commerce programs. The mass retailer market customer base increased almost 20% in August, with supermarkets seeing a 10% decrease. However, both supermarkets and mass retailers gained in order value as compared to last year. The President and CEO of Mercatus stated, “Online customer loyalty is increasingly elusive, and grocers should focus on creating more seamless experiences that keep shoppers – especially the first timers coming back.” This response is on point, as the data shows cross-shopping rates between mass, supermarkets and discounters hit a high not seen since 2019. While it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain that customer loyalty at retail, retailers can work towards supporting customers repeat business with personalized shopping promotions, and recommendations based on their buying history.
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