February online grocery sales top $10.3 billion, up 31% from year ago

U.S. consumers spent 31% more in February for online groceries compared to a year ago. More than 80 million households placed at least one online grocery order in February for a total of $10.3 billion.

The online data from a Brick Meets Click Grocery Shopper Survey sponsored by Mercatus does not factor in food at home (grocery) inflation which was up 1.9% in February, from a year ago, according to the recent CPI report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Meat, poultry, fish and egg prices were up 7.7%.

David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, said February marked the seventh consecutive month where sales exceeded $9.5 billion.

“We are a little more than a half year into eGrocery’s current growth curve, fueled by aggressive offers to lock in customers for at least 12 months,” Bishop said. “So far, the response from U.S. households reveals a sizable amount of latent demand that has been unlocked by offering discounts designed to help customers save more money on online grocery orders.”

The report found delivery orders increased 45% in February versus a year ago totaling $4.5 billion in sales. The data suggests there has been a rapid expansion of users over 60 years of age along with strong penetration from the 18-29-year olds.

Strong gains in order frequency and average order values also contributed to this robust performance, enabling delivery to finish the month with nearly 44% of total online grocery sales.

The online grocery pickup segment had gains of 19% compared to last year with sales totaling $4.1 billion. The monthly average user base and order frequency rate each increased year over year, but the primary driver of sales growth was the higher average order value. Despite the segment’s growth its total share of online grocery sales declined to 39%, down 4% in February.

Ship-to-home sales jumped nearly 29% versus the prior year as this method posted almost $1.8 billion in sales. Overall, ship-to-home maintained its 17% share position, ceding just 0.3% of share compared to a year ago.

Building on the strong results for each receiving segment, supermarket and mass retailers also had a positive February. Both posted year-over-year gains of monthly average users, order frequency and average order values. In addition, the grocery and mass formats – which includes supermarkets and hard discounters – reported improvements in repeat intent rates related to delivery and pickup services with grocery closing most of its gap with mass retailers.

“Regional grocers are converting first-time shoppers into more loyal customers as evidenced by the rising repeat intent rates, but so is Walmart” said Mark Fairhurst, chief growth marketing officer at Mercatus. “While deep discounts have driven a lot of trials, making a good first impression is essential to longer-term success. That means providing a more seamless shopping experience by pairing relevant personalized offers, order fulfilment, and sought-after loyalty rewards to encourage customers to shop online again.”

The report noted that online grocery sales growth of 31% compared to overall grocery spending up less than 5% compared to February 2024. Online grocery comprised about 18% of total grocery spending, up 3.7% versus a year ago.