US Online Grocery Survey 2024 Amazon and Walmart Showdown in Grocery E-Commerce

Published – June 2024

In our seventh annual US online grocery survey, we delve into the purchasing patterns of online grocery shoppers, including their product choices, preferred retailers and fulfillment preferences. The basis of this report is our proprietary survey of more than 2,000 US consumers, conducted on April 8, 2024. The consistency of many of our survey questions enables us to build up trend data from our first survey, which we ran in 2018.​

Proprietary survey data in this research report include:

• Proportions of US shoppers who have bought and expect to buy groceries online, 2018–2024
• Penetration of the e-commerce channel in grocery shopping, 2018–2024
• Most popular online grocery retailers, 2022–2024
• Categories that online grocery shoppers have purchased, 2022–2024
• Grocery shoppers’ reasons for planning to shop online in the coming year

Introduction

Market Scale and Opportunity

Top Three Survey Findings

1. Walmart Far Surpasses Amazon as the Most Shopped Online Grocery Retailer
2. Most Walmart+ Members Prefer To Shop Online at Walmart—and So Do Amazon Prime Members
3. Easy-to-Use Websites and Apps—the Top Reason for Why Online Grocery Shoppers Choose a Particular Retailer

Other Survey Findings in Detail

1. Online Grocery Shopping Declines Slightly
2. Most Walmart+ Members Prefer To Shop Online at Walmart—and So Do Amazon Prime Members
3. Easy-to-Use Websites and Apps—the Top Reason for Why Online Grocery Shoppers Choose a Particular Retailer
4. Walmart’s Consumer Base Has a High Proportion of Omnichannel Shoppers
5. Packaged Food Tops the Categories That Grocery Shoppers Buy Online
6. Amazon in Focus: The Proportion of Prime Members Who Buy Groceries on Amazon and Whole Foods Declines
7. Amazon in Focus: Most Amazon Shoppers Use Amazon’s Regular Website for Grocery Shopping
8. Order Fulfillment: Delivery Remains Ahead of In-Store Pickup
9. Order Fulfillment: Consumers Prefer Scheduled Delivery Services Over Rapid Delivery
10. Order Fulfillment: Walmart Leads in the Rapid-Delivery Space
11. Older Millennials and High-Income Shoppers Are Key Demographics for Online Grocery Shopping
12. Consumers Want Convenience When Buying Groceries Online
13. A Desire To Physically Examine Products Prevents Shoppers from Buying Groceries Online
14. Meal Kits: Healthy Eating Is Important to Subscribers
15. Meal Kits: HelloFresh Leads the Subscription Market

28-slide PDF report

Amazon, BJ’s Wholesale, Costco, Dollar General, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, HelloFresh, Instacart, Kroger, Target, Walmart

1. US Online Food and Beverages: Total Retail Sales (Left Axis; USD Bil.) and YoY Change (Right Axis; %)
2. Online Grocery Shoppers: Retailers from Which They Have Bought Groceries Online in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
3. Online Grocery Shoppers with Prime Membership: Retailers from Which They Have Bought Groceries Online in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
4. Online Grocery Shoppers with Walmart+ Membership: Retailers from Which They Have Bought Groceries Online in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
5. Online Grocery Shoppers: Reasons for Buying Online at a Particular Retailer (% of Respondents)
6. All Respondents: Proportions That Had Bought Groceries Online in the Past 12 Months and Expect To Buy Groceries Online in the Next 12 Months (% of Respondents)
7. Online Grocery Shoppers: Proportion of Total Grocery Shopping Done Online (% of Respondents)
8. Online Grocery Shoppers: Retailers from Which They Have Bought Groceries Online in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
9. All Respondents: Where They Have Purchased Groceries, Online or In-Store, in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
10. Online Grocery Shoppers: Grocery Categories They Purchased Online in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
11. Online Grocery Shoppers: Proportion That Had Bought Groceries Online from Amazon or Whole Foods Market in the Past 12 Months, by Prime Membership (% of Respondents)
12. Amazon Grocery Shoppers: Amazon Services Used To Purchase Groceries in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
13. Online Grocery Shoppers: Whether They Used Delivery Services or Collection in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
14. Online Grocery Shoppers: Delivery/Collection Service They Had Used in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
15. Rapid-Delivery Users: Rapid Delivery Service They Had Used for Online Grocery Purchases in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)
16. All Respondents: Proportion That Had Purchased Groceries Online in the Past 12 Months, by Age Group (% of Respondents)
17. All Respondents: Proportion That Had Purchased Groceries Online in the Past 12 Months, by Household Income (% of Respondents)
18. Respondents Who Expect To Buy Groceries Online in the Next 12 Months: Reasons for Buying Online vs. at a Physical Store (% of Respondents)
19. Shoppers Who Do Not Expect to Buy Groceries Online in the Next 12 Months: Reasons Why They Do Not Expect to Buy Groceries Online in the Next 12 Months (% of Respondents)
20. Meal-Kit Subscribers: Top Reasons for Using an Online Meal-Kit Subscription Service (% of Respondents)
21. Meal-Kit Subscribers: Services Used in the Past 12 Months (% of Respondents)