The market size is gradually expanding, and online supermarkets have become a new choice for American consumers!

During the epidemic, the US government began to implement a lockdown policy and shoppers reduced their entry into public places, but people's demand for groceries and necessities was still strong, making the online grocery delivery services of retailers such as Walmart , Amazon , Target and Instacart indispensable , and online supermarkets stood out.

According to eMarketer , e-commerce sales accounted for only 2% of total food and beverage sales in 2019, but during the pandemic , many U.S. consumers turned to online grocery shopping services for the first time. The pandemic is driving consumers to buy necessities digitally, rapidly accelerating the development of online grocery , curbside pickup, and same-day delivery in the United States.

Affected by the epidemic, the scale of online supermarkets may continue to expand

Before the pandemic , online supermarket sales were already growing and becoming an increasingly important part, but it still only accounted for a small market share.

According to eMarketer , US food and beverage retail e-commerce sales are expected to reach nearly $24 billion by 2020 and exceed $38 billion by 2023, with the industry growing at a compound annual growth rate ( CAGR ) of 17.3% during this period. But this will only account for 2.3% of total US food and beverage sales in 2020 and 3.5% by 2023. Therefore, even if online supermarket sales are growing, they only account for a small part of the industry, and considering that its sales growth is expected to peak in 2020, it will not sweep the market as much as it does now.

Insider Intelligence predicts that as the epidemic develops in the coming months, 55% of US consumers will use online supermarkets for shopping by the end of 2024. If the epidemic lasts longer, this figure will climb to 66% in 2024.

The pandemic is driving consumers to buy necessities digitally, which is also rapidly accelerating consumers' adoption of online supermarket services. Although the pandemic has greatly promoted the development of online supermarkets , the industry's staying power will decline after the pandemic ends . If the crisis continues to spread, it may force more consumers to try online supermarket services . How online supermarket service providers meet the growing demand will become critical.

As of now, Walmart and Instacart are in the leading position in the online supermarket market, given Walmart's massive physical network and the broad reach of Instacart 's platform model.

Consumer loyalty is high, and online supermarket service providers face challenges

Insider Intelligence 's Online Grocery Report examines the impact of the pandemic on the online grocery industry . The companies mentioned in this report are:   Albertsons , Aldi, Amazon , BJ's Wholesale Club , Costco , FreshDirect , Grubhub , Hannaford , HEB, Instacart , Kroger , Ocado , Peapod, Publix , Target , Uber Eats , Walgreens , Walmart , and Whole Foods .

The report shows that the ability of service providers to complete orders through various channels during the epidemic will be important, because if consumers cannot place orders through the channels they want, they may turn to different service providers. According to Bain and Google surveys since 2018 , 75% of online supermarket shoppers still shop at their first online supermarket service provider . Service providers that can meet the needs of most consumers during the epidemic may still lead the industry after the epidemic subsides.

user