AmazonFresh, Amazon Pantry and Amazon’s Whole Foods operation cater specifically to the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market. But almost none of the retail giant’s CPG sales come from Amazon-branded goods.
US ecommerce grocery is the fastest growing product category online, and this year we estimate that US food and beverage ecommerce sales will grow 23% to $22.63 billion. Buy online, pick up in store (BOPUS) is one of the key drivers of this growth.
Grocery is the least penetrated but fastest-growing category in ecommerce today. Traditional brands and retailers need to understand why this channel shift is accelerating and adjust their marketing and selling strategies accordingly.
Last year, the number of locations offering “buy online, pick up in-store” (BOPUS) nearly doubled among leading US grocery retailers. Walmart (and various third-party partners), Target/Shipt, Kroger/Instacart, Ahold and Albertsons brought their collective number of click-and-collect locations from 2,451 in January 2018 to 5,800 in December 2018, per data from CommonSense Robotics.
Cashierless stores, like Amazon Go, have great potential to shake up the brick-and-mortar landscape. According to GPShopper, 48% of US internet users believe scan-and-go technology would make shopping easier. And 43% would rather try scan-and-go than wait in a checkout line.
Online grocery sales are reaching a tipping point, a fact that was a given at the inaugural Groceryshop conference held this week. Overall themes of digital transformation and the power of the consumer emerged while Amazon was mentioned less often than you might think.
Even though food and beverage has traditionally been a product category with low digital penetration in the US—we peg the category at 2.8% of all retail ecommerce sales for 2018—online sales are steadily picking up steam.
So far, China and the US have matched each other tit-for-tat in the growing trade war. Both countries have imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of goods, with the US threatening an additional $200 billion and China another $60 billion on 5,207 products.
Grocery apps are some of the fastest-growing apps in the US, according to eMarketer’s latest app usage forecast. This year, 18.0 million US adults will use a grocery app at least once a month, up 49.6% over last year.
According to a new study from Inmar, traditional grocery has been taking hits, not just from newer ecommerce options but also warehouse clubs and big box multichannel retailers. Grocery shoppers are spreading out their spend across more channels than ever, and even smaller retailers feel pressure to offer digital options.
One-hour curbside pickup is the latest Amazon benefit granted to Whole Foods Market shoppers using the Prime Now app. Getting items to shoppers quickly and more conveniently (not to mention cost-effectively) is where the retail battle is being fought.
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