More than 1,000 U.S. adults were polled in January and the results showed that Walmart is by far the top destination for online grocery shopping, according to CPG/grocery digital commerce platform Chicory. Over 35% of the respondents named Walmart as the retailer they use most often to buy groceries online. Amazon finished a distant second at 23%, and third-party online grocery provider Instacart was named by 10% of the survey participants.
Target (9%), Kroger (7%), Albertsons/Safeway (3%), Stop & Shop/Giant Food (2%) were next on the list.
Walmart and Amazon were the top online grocers for all age groups, with Amazon leading in the 60 and older customer age group and Walmart in the 45-60 year old range. Instacart had its biggest online grocery usership in the 18-29 segment.
“Considering Walmart is a household name with brick-and-mortar stores, and Instacart is a younger, digital-first retailer, this demographic difference tracks,” Chicory noted. “As our youngest generation of respondents mature, we will likely see more households embracing and trusting digital-first retailers like Instacart or Shipt.”
As of January, 72% of shoppers surveyed by Chicory said they purchased groceries online in the past 90 days, and convenience was the leading factor, as cited by 46% of those surveyed. Health/Safety concerns were only cited by 10% of respondents, which according to Chicory indicates that elevated online grocery use “is not merely a byproduct of the pandemic.”