US Online Grocery Consumer Survey: Amazon Is the Most-Shopped Retailer, but Not Yet a Full-Order Grocery Destination

Executive Summary

In this report, we share our top takeaways from our latest consumer survey, which looked at the online grocery market in the US.

• Some 23.1% of all consumers surveyed said that they had bought groceries online in the past year, but most online grocery shoppers spend only a small share of their total grocery budgets online. We estimate that e-commerce will account for only about 2.4% of total food and drink retail sales this year, given that most shoppers still spend the bulk of their grocery dollars in stores.
• Amazon is by far the most-shopped retailer among consumers who buy groceries online. However, a number of data points suggest that shoppers tend not to use Amazon for conventional, “full basket” grocery shops.
• Our survey confirmed that collection is the majority fulfillment method in US online grocery: 51% of those surveyed mostly collect their online grocery orders, while 45% mostly get their orders delivered.
• Walmart and Kroger hold strong positions in online grocery, despite Amazon’s lead in shopper numbers. The gap between online and in-store shopper penetration rates is much narrower for Walmart than for its major rivals. Kroger is in second place in terms of number of online shoppers and in third place in terms of number of in-store shoppers.