As e-grocery adoption continues to grow, with 60% saying they had bought such goods online in the past month, up from 52% in March, Walmart has surpassed Amazon as the most-shopped online grocer, according to weekly data published by Coresight Research.
Some 56% of online grocery shoppers surveyed by Coresight in the past week said they had bought from Walmart, up from 52% in March. This just edged out Amazon, with corresponding figures of 55% and 63%.
While Walmart reported 97% growth in ecommerce for the second quarter, including grocery and nongrocery orders, Amazon said its online grocery sales tripled in the second quarter. Conceding that the dollar figure may be higher for Amazon, Coresight said this could be explained by larger basket sizes for Amazon’s e-grocery orders from existing customers, Walmart attracted more new online grocery shoppers.
It also appears from the survey that online grocery buying habits are becoming well ingrained among U.S. consumers. Over a third of online grocery shoppers (36%) said they didn’t expect their habits to change if and when the pandemic eases or ends.
Similarly, nearly 20% of those who started buying groceries online or purchased more of them since the March lockdowns plan to stay at the same frequency of purchase, Coresight found. Only 7% said they plan to stop buying groceries online if things return to “normal.”
Even as e-grocery adoption increased, Coresight found consumers are slightly less likely to avoid any public place, dropping from 85% last week to 80% this week. “This is the lowest level we have seen for a month, although the rate remains high,” the report stated. This index hit a high of 87% the week of July 22.
Mall avoidance also improved a bit this week, with 60% saying they continued to steer clear of them, down a bit from 63% in the prior week. “We have seen a gradual declining trend in avoidance of malls after reaching a peak of two-thirds a month ago,” Coresight reported. “However, shopping centers/malls continue to be the most-avoided places among consumers.”