Walmart, Kroger, Amazon, and other major retailers’ new initiatives to grow grocery e-commerce sales stand to benefit fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable seafood products.
Cincinnati, Ohio-based The Kroger Co. is expanding its Kroger Ship program to offer an extended ship-to-home assortment through a marketplace offering of third-party sellers powered by Miraki this fall.
"Our customers are increasingly turning to our e-commerce solutions provided at Kroger.com for their grocery and household essential needs. To better serve our customers, we're continuing to invest in technology that enables us to expand our digital services to deliver anything, anytime, anywhere," Kroger Vice President of Product Experience Jody Kalmbach said in a press release.
Thanks to Miarki’s third-party marketplace, more than 50,000 additional items will be available to Kroger Ship customers across multiple categories, including natural and organic, international food, and specialty items.
Meanwhile, Walmart, the leader in online grocery sales in the U.S., is partnering with Instacart for same-day delivery. However, the service is currently in a pilot phase in four markets across California and Oklahoma, and the retailer did not say when it would roll out to the rest of the U.S.
Amazon’s grocery e-commerce sales tripled in the second quarter of this year and it hit USD 7.2 billion (EUR 6.1 billion) in grocery sales in June. In the past six months, Amazon has tripled its overall grocery delivery capacity and its total number of grocery pickup locations, it said in a press release.
Target’s overall e-commerce sales soared 141 percent in its most recent quarter. Its online sales jumped 282 percent in April alone, as more than five million customers shopped at target.com for the first time, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Similarly, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons reported a 276 percent hike in e-commerce sales in its most recent quarter – and its first as a public company.
Grocery delivery services are now available at more than 90 percent of Albertsons’ 2,252 stores and its curbside pickup service will soon reach 1,600 stores, Progressive Grocer reported.
Meanwhile, Canadian grocery giant Metro’s online food sales tripled to 280 percent in its third quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.
“Today, the size of that business is at a level we had forecasted to reach in two or three years.” Metro President and CEO Eric La Flèche said on a conference call, Supermarket News reported.
Photo courtesy of The Kroger Co.
