New data from Brick Meets Click-Mercatus shows mass retailers are taking online grocery businesses away from traditional grocers. / Photo: Shutterstock
Online grocery orders fell 10% year-over-year in November, totaling $7.7 billion in sales, according to the monthly Brick Meets Click-Mercatus grocery survey, released Tuesday. But we see growth in one segment. It’s a mass retailer.
Monthly active users (MAUs) ordering groceries online from traditional grocery stores dropped 5% in November, while the base of users ordering groceries online from mass retailers increased 6%. Similarly, grocery MAUs reported he had orders down 11% in November, while mass merchandiser MAUs completed 8% more orders than he did at the same time last year. .
According to Brick Meets Click, the shift was driven by bargain-seeking shoppers amid soaring grocery inflation.
Total grocery spending in November fell 5% year-over-year, while online sales fell at twice that rate.
Mercatus President and CEO Sylvain Perrier said: in a statement. “We know that a significant percentage of our online customers can save at least a few bucks by being able to choose between shorter cycle times and lower fees, seeing time later in the day or even the next day. I have.”
The decline in overall online sales is due to fewer households buying groceries online, ordering less frequently, and spending less on each order, the study found.
The total number of households ordering groceries online for delivery, pickup or home delivery fell 7% year-over-year in November. A “dramatic decline” in the 60+ demographic and a “significant decline” in the core 30- to 44-year-old segment contributed to the decline.
Not surprisingly, cost was cited as the number one determining factor when consumers chose where to shop online.
In November, the cross-shopping rate between traditional grocers and mass retailers (which measures the percentage of monthly active users of groceries who purchased groceries online at mass retailers) increased 6 percentage points from last year, Now 30%.
Brick Meets Click partner David Bishop said in a statement: “Many customers also assess the total cost associated with using the service, which may include special fees, standard fees, and tips. There is a big difference between mass retailers and grocery stores.”
Overall online order frequency in November decreased by just under 4% year-on-year. This was found to represent contracting demand for home delivery, relatively flat pickup sales, and “low single-digit” delivery growth.