Grocers Boosted Digital Adoption by 27% in the Last Year

Grocers’ efforts to drive digital engagement have led to a surge in online food purchases.

The Context

Leading grocers have been expanding their digital businesses, both investing in their consumer-facing platforms and building out their internal fulfillment capabilities. Take, for instance, Kroger, which has been driving adoption of its delivery membership program, Boost, and opening automated facilities in partnership with Ocado to fulfill delivery orders.

The grocer has been slowing down its automated fulfillment center rollout but remains committed to opening more, according to Ocado CEO Tim Steiner, as Reuters reported Tuesday (March 28).

“They are committed to building more, they just want to make those [existing] ones work as well as they can before they roll out loads – very sensible thing to do,” Steiner said, per the outlet.

Similarly, eCommerce giant Amazon has been growing its share in grocery, wooing customers with the digital convenience it can offer. On a call with analysts last month discussing the company’s fourth-quarter 2022 financial results, Amazon asserted that the extent of its grocery presence tends to go underestimated.

“If you think about the online grocery offering, we have a very large business there,” CEO Andy Jassy said. “If you think about the aisles in a grocery store, from packaged food to paper products to canned goods to pet supplies to health and personal care items to consumables, we have a very large business there that continues to grow at a rapid clip and … we think will continue to grow.”

By the Numbers

Research from the latest edition of PYMNTS’ ConnectedEconomy series, “ConnectedEconomy Monthly Report: The Evolving Digital Daily Edition,” which draws from a February survey of more than 4,000 U.S. consumers, finds that digital engagement with grocers has increased 27% in the last year. This growth was significantly higher than the 11% year-over-year rise seen in engagement with restaurants’ eCommerce channels.