Walmart has taken the lead in the race to win over American consumers’ online grocery business.
More than 35 percent of Americans polled in January by Chicory said Walmart is the retailer they use most often to buy groceries online. Amazon (23 percent) was second in the annual Chicory Online Grocery Usership Survey, followed by Instacart, “other”, Kroger, and Albertson’s/ Safeway.
However, conventional grocers reported a 6.8 percent drop in online grocery sales for the 12 weeks ending 28 September, 2021, versus the prior year, according to a recent Brick Meets Click eGrocery Performance Benchmarking 2021 Wave report.
Most major grocery chains continue to report increased sales since the start of the pandemic. Costco Wholesale’s net sales spiked 15.5 percent for month of January 2022. The retailer’s e-commerce sales also rose 9 percent during the month.
Amazon – which operates Whole Foods Market – said net sales jumped 22 percent to reach USD 469.8 billion (EUR 411 billion) for fiscal year 2021. Amazon also operates 30 AmazonGo stores, and is opening a new convenience-style AmazonGo in Mill Creek, Washington, U.S.A., per Progressive Grocer. Amazon also plans to bring the new store format to the Los Angeles metropolitan area in the coming months.
210 Analytics Principal Anne-Marie Roerink told SeafoodSource the seafood sector is benefitting from the grocery segment’s strong sales.
“Fresh and frozen seafood retail sales reached new records in 2021, boosted by robust demand as well as inflation,” Roerink said.
Fresh seafood sales rose 4 percent compared to 2020 and 30.8 percent versus 2019, reaching USD 7.1 billion (EUR 6.2 billion). Frozen seafood sales rose 2.8 percent compared to 2020 and 40.8 percent versus 2019, to reach USD 7.2 billion (EUR 6.3 billion).
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