Grocery e-commerce sees major growth | WARC | The Feed

Grocery e-commerce sees major growth

Online grocery spending has grown by over 300% in the US over the last four years, according to new research. 

Comscore’s 2023 State of Digital Commerce Report* found that digital commerce sales in 2022 surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in the country's history.

Why it matters

Grocery e-commerce surged during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic and is now embedded into the shopping routine for many consumers, but to maintain and grow this audience, brands and retailers in this space must understand consumer’s specific preferences and establish a connection that goes beyond purely functional appeals.

The numbers

• US grocery e-commerce was valued at $64bn in the final quarter of last year, compared with $15bn in the same period in 2018.
• Unsurprisingly, grocery e-commerce was among the top-grossing digital categories in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Since Q1 2020, grocery spending on mobile devices has continued to exceed other categories, such as apparel.

Building a habit

• Ian Essling, senior director of Survey Insights at Comscore, said the growth of online grocery was not only about current buyers “doing it more often”.
• New users who have “tried it out”, Essling explained, are also contributing to greater demand having grown to appreciate the benefits of buying in this way.
• These shoppers believe that “just because they then have the ability to go to the grocery store doesn't mean that they should put all of their spending back in person,” he said.

*Read the full report, ‘Mobile, social help power digital commerce growth’, on WARC.