U.S. online grocery sales continued to soar in April

According to the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey, online grocery sales in the U.S. totaled $8.4 billion in April 2021. This is a 10% contraction from the $9.3 billion in March 2021, but a 16% increase from April 2020.

The study also found that 67.8 million U.S. households purchased groceries online in April 2021, a 12% decrease compared to the same month in 2020. However, this decline in shopper demographics was offset by greater user engagement, as monthly active users in April placed more delivery and pickup orders, accounting for 78% of all online grocery sales that month.

During April 2021, monthly active users placed an average of 2.73 online orders, up slightly from 2.68 orders in the same period last year. Year-on-year, the share of orders received through the home delivery segment fell by nearly 9 percentage points, while pickup and delivery increased by 6 and 3 percentage points, respectively.

During April 2021, a growing portion of the monthly active user base relied on two or more methods (pickup, delivery, and/or home delivery) to receive online grocery orders, continuing a trend that began at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. In April 2021, more than 35% of monthly active users received their orders via two or three different methods, an increase of nearly 3 percentage points year-over-year and 20 percentage points above the pre-pandemic level in August 2019.

During April 2021, average order value (AOV) for pickup, delivery, and home delivery, on an order-weighted basis, was down 6% year-over-year. The decline was driven primarily by a 7% drop in average order value for home delivery. AOV for pickup and delivery slipped 1% and less than 3%, respectively, but were still $8 (10%) higher than pre-pandemic order values ​​measured in August 2019.

Repeat intent, a measure of how likely monthly active users are to place another order with the same grocery service in the next month, jumped to 55% in April, up 5 percentage points year-over-year but significantly below pre-pandemic intent. Among less satisfied users in April 2021, 11% were still looking for an acceptable alternative because they were extremely likely or very likely to use another service in the next month.

"For a significant portion of the U.S. population, online shopping remains an attractive way to purchase groceries," said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click.

The Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey was created and conducted by Brick Meets Click and sponsored by Mercatus. Brick Meets Click surveyed 1,941 adults, ages 18 and older, who are involved in their household grocery shopping.

Online Shopping

E-commerce

USA