The U.S. online grocery segment sustained its turbo-charged growth in March 2025, ending up 21% versus a year ago with $9.7 billion in monthly sales, according to the Brick Meets Click Grocery Shopper Survey, sponsored by Mercatus.
Delivery continued to be the main driver of the topline increase, as it surged more than 30% year over year, due to expansion of its monthly active user (MAU) base.
“Delivery’s remarkable year-over-year rebound highlights the potency of promotional strategies that help customers save more money,” says David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click. “And, memberships/subscriptions are becoming essential for retaining customers and driving more recurring revenue via gains in order frequency and average order values.”
Key takeaways:
- The latest monthly performance gains for e-grocery sales reflect the ongoing impact of aggressive promotions and deep discounts on annual memberships and/or subscriptions that began around May 2024.
- In August 2019, e-grocery rang up $2 billion in monthly sales in the United States. Then seven months later in March 2020, e-grocery sales skyrocketed to $6.5 billion, a more than 200% increase. This initial surge accounted for about 60% of the total gains for e-grocery since the pandemic. After peaking in early 2021, total e-grocery sales rebalanced through mid-2024, contributing another 20% of overall gains. More recently, there has been another 20% in gains driven by the uptick in subscriptions and memberships promotions, with March 2025 representing the eighth consecutive month of sales of over $9.5 billion.
“Customer expectations around online grocery have only increased since COVID-19 pushed many to give it a try,” says Mark Fairhurst, chief growth marketing officer, Mercatus. “Retailers that elevate the experience with relevant offers and meaningful rewards won’t just meet shoppers’ evolving needs—they’ll build stronger connections that fuel long-term growth.”
