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Feb 9, 2022 - Economy

Walmart dominates online grocery market

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A Walmart in North Bergen, N.J.

A Walmart in North Bergen, N.J. Photo: Kena Betancur/VIEWpress via Getty Images

Walmart tops the original e-commerce giant Amazon when it comes to online grocery ordering.

The big picture: The pandemic has created a large — and growing — market for online grocery shopping that companies are battling to dominate.

  • E-commerce is projected to swell to 20% of all grocery sales by 2026, according to Supermarket News. Before COVID, it was only expected to reach 14.5%.

By the numbers: Walmart is the retailer of choice for more than a third of online grocery shoppers, per a new survey by the digital marketing platform Chicory.

  • Some 20% of respondents prefer Amazon, and Instacart and Target claim 10% each.

These stats are troubling for the traditional grocery stores, none of which are represented in the top choices, Sam Silverstein notes in Grocery Dive. Kroger led the grocery chains, but even it had less than 10% of votes.

What to watch: For many consumers, online grocery shopping started as a COVID-era practice to avoid in-person encounters. But it has quickly turned into a habit that’s likely to outlast the pandemic.

  • 46% of Chicory's survey respondents said they shop online because of "convenience and/or time constraints," while just 10% cited "health/safety concerns."
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