Nielsen reported recently that Amazon’s e-commerce lead is shrinking as major brick-and-mortar retailers like Target, Walmart and Kroger – along with e-grocery company Instacart – have outpaced Amazon in percentage growth of online consumer packaged good (CPG) purchases.
In the two-year period beginning in January 2017, the number of e-commerce buyers of grocery and other CPG products for Amazon rose 29%. However, the growth for Instacart (256%), Walmart (207%), Kroger (172%) and Target (122%) was far greater.
According to Nielsen, Amazon competitors gained ground in the last couple years by rapidly ramping up their online grocery fulfillment capabilities for home delivery and for store pickup.
Despite big gains by competitors, Amazon still enjoys a healthy lead. Its reach among U.S. online purchasers is approximately ten times more than any other retailer.