Walmart Widens Share of the E-Grocery Pie
Walmart’s investment in its e-commerce business is paying off, new research shows. According to the latest Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey, the Arkansas-based retail giant nabbed a 37% share of the online grocery market during the second quarter of 2024.
The fact that Walmart rings up more than a third of digital grocery sales in this country reflects its disciplined and forward-thinking omnichannel focus. The company released its first "State of Adaptive Retail" report in July, underscoring the importance of guiding shoppers throughout their shopping journey via digital tactics like automatic restocking orders, virtual shopping assistants and curated recipes, among other advancements.
The fresh data from Brick Meets Click/Mercatus affirms Walmart’s year-over-year gains that can be attributed to macroeconomic conditions favorable to the deal-centric retailer and to its digital strategies. Online grocery sales at Walmart rose 150 basis points during Q2 to reach the highest share level to date, the survey reveals.
Walmart outshone other retailers during the second quarter. The Brick Meets Click/Mercatus report found that supermarkets’ share of e-grocery sales dropped 250 basis points for a 27.3% share of the market. Behind Walmart, Target is another mass merchandiser that is capturing a portion of the digital grocery market, with a 7% share in the second quarter. Overall, mass merchants comprised nearly half of all delivery sales and 58% of pickup sales in that time frame.
“Walmart’s reputation for low prices helped to attract households that wanted both the convenience of shopping online and ways to save money in this market,” observed David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click. “The execution of its omnichannel strategy, plus the operational efficiencies aided by incredibly high order demand, has enabled Walmart to consistently deliver the type of experiences that customers expect and to lower its cost to serve online orders at the same time.”
Mark Fairhurst, chief growth officer at Mercatus, offered some suggestions for retailers who want to improve their competitiveness against dominant mass retailers like Walmart. “Regional grocers can safeguard their online business by targeting budget-conscious households with a convenient, seamless, and personalized digital experience,” he advised. “This includes boosting loyalty with points, discounts, and exclusive deals; highlighting unique products and offering bundled deals for savings; and using targeted promotional campaigns like 'Journey to Five' to encourage repeat online purchases.”
Each week, approximately 255 million customers and members visit Walmart’s more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries. With fiscal year 2024 revenue of $648 billion, the retailer employs approximately 2.1 million associates worldwide. Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Walmart one of its Retailers of the Century.
