By 2023, online grocery sales are projected to range between $80 billion to $123 billion, according to new statistics released by Steve Bishop of Brick Meets Click (BMC) in a presentation at The Food Institute webinar, “Get In On The Growth of Online Shopping.” If realized, even at the middle of those two projections online grocery sales would exceed today’s sales of the nation’s largest supermarket chain, Kroger. Online grocery sales in 2014 are estimated to be about $27 billion by BMC. Bishop suggested traditional brick and mortar grocers respond accordingly since online sales will increasingly cannibalize in-store sales. “The question and opportunity is who will capture the growing online sales. Will the in-store lost sales be recaptured and offset by your online channel or lost to the competition? It’s a good time to step up your online game”, said Bishop.
Currently, online grocery store sales account for about 4 percent of market-level spending, but over the next decade it’s expected these sales will account for between 11 percent and 17 percent of the total, with some major markets such as New York and San Francisco potentially exceeding that level while others where there is less invested online falling below that 11 percent figure, commented Bishop.
Also on the webinar was PJ Stafford, co-president of Honest Green, the ecommerce division of United Natural Foods. He offered practical suggestions to manufacturers looking to enter or expand in the online arena, noting Amazon’s growing importance in this sector as it reaches 62 million grocery shoppers each month and 52 percent of consumers who have bought canned or packaged goods online.
To view the entire webinar go to: https://foodinstitute.com/webinar_library
