The third quarter eGrocery Performance Benchmarking report from Brick Meets Click and sponsored by Mercatus is out, showing that “composite-level sales across 25 U.S. grocery banners dropped 13.5% during a 12-week period ending September 20, 2023, versus the same period last year.”
Key findings include:
• “The year-over-year sales decline was driven by a higher rate of lapsed customers who either shifted back to in-store only or switched to a rival’s online service.”
• “Of the 25 banners that participated in the Benchmark study, only three bucked the downward trend, reporting a positive change in same-store online sales versus the prior year. This result highlights how challenging the current environment is for most regional grocers while other formats, like Walmart’s eGrocery, experienced a surge in year-over-year sales growth in 2023.”
• “Total order volume on a same-store basis in 2023 was down 16.8% compared to a year ago. The decrease in order volume was the result of a shrinking base of active customers overall. The number of customers who completed one or more eGrocery orders in the twelve weeks during 2023 declined by 19.8% versus the same period in 2022. And a comparison of retention rates for different customer cohorts in 2022 versus 2023 highlights that it has only gotten more challenging for regional grocers to keep their online customers active.”
• “The year-over-year drop in overall order volume was partially offset by the base of active customers completing more orders and spending more per order as these key metrics both grew, climbing 7.6% and 4.2% respectively in 2023 versus the prior year.”
KC’s View:
It is possible that the decline in sales explored by Brick Meets Click is coming in part because we are coming to a sea change in this part of the business.
The first iteration was everything that went on before the pandemic, and 2.0 was all the stuff that happened during the pandemic and e-grocery went into warp speed. Now, I think there is a new stage happening, as companies rethink, refine and redefine what their e-commerce presence should be. I think there will be a lot of shifts taking place as retailers, working with various service providers, start to make new calculations about their approaches.
Just FYI … the National Grocers Association (NGA) has asked me once again to curate and facilitate the technology track at its 2024 show in Las Vegas – and this subject will be one of our concentrations on Sunday, March 10. It’ll be just one of a number of conversations that we’ll be having there, and I hope you have it on your calendar.
The post Q3 E-Grocery Sales Drop 13.5 Percent appeared first on MNB.
View Original Article
