12. Thrive Market
Online grocer Thrive Market is, well, thriving. The membership-based retailer with headquarters in Los Angeles told The Wall Street Journal in June that sales were up 110% in May compared with a year ago. When Americans couldn’t find peanut butter or toilet paper at the local supermarket (or they just wanted to avoid going to the store), they rushed to their computers to buy groceries. Thrive, which is privately held, now has more than 800,000 members, who pay $60 a year. The company notes that it has seen more than 100,000 people sign up during the pandemic. Although Thrive doesn’t disclose sales, CEO Nick Green says that they’re in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. This past June, the grocer responded to demand from quarantined shoppers for frozen foods, entering the category by rolling out its own branded Paleo and Plant-Based Bowls.
13. Instacart and Shipt
The rocket ship known as Instacart recently got another infusion of fuel. In June, the San Francisco-based grocery delivery company was valued at $1 billion after securing $225 million in new funding to scale its operations as it races to keep up with shopper demand for online grocery. Instacart says that it expects to deploy the new capital by continuing to support its growing shopper community and further scaling its operational and technical teams. The company, which has hired about 300,000 new workers since March, is now accessible to more than 85% of households in the United States and more than 70% of households in Canada. The new cash infusion comes at a pivotal time for Instacart and for the online grocery space in general. More and more shoppers are buying groceries online due to the pandemic. Instacart and Shipt have benefited from that trend over the past few months. Birmingham, Ala.-based Shipt, which is owned by Target, has hired more than 70,000 new shoppers during the public health crisis. According to Minneapolis-based Target, Shipt’s sales grew 278% in its first quarter ended May 2.
14. Ahold Delhaize
For Dutch retail conglomerate Ahold Delhaize, disrupting its core selling strategy is key to building the e-commerce experience that customers want. That’s why the company is focused on adding more warerooms, or dedicated areas attached to Ahold Delhaize USA stores such as Giant Food or Stop & Shop that allow for centralized distribution supporting efficiency and accuracy in order fulfillment (similar to micro fulfillment centers). This month, Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop revealed that it will add three new warerooms and at least 50 more pickup locations in 2020 to support increased e-commerce demand and make it easier for more customers in the northeastern United States to have Stop & Shop groceries delivered to their doors.
Description-Defying Breakthroughs
15. Amazon
Seattle-based Amazon is reimagining a lot of things, but the self-distribution model seems to be priority No. 1, with the growth of Amazon Air. In June, the company said that it would invest in the speed of its supply chain by leasing an additional 12 Boeing 767-300 aircraft ahead of next year’s opening of the Amazon Air Hub, near Cincinnati. The 12 new airplanes will join a fleet that has grown to 70 aircraft since its launch in August 2016. Amazon broke ground on the Air Hub in May 2019, and when fully operational, the facility is expected to employ 2,000 people. The combination of a fleet of more than 80 aircraft and a major air hub in a centralized location gives Amazon a new and different type of speed advantage, and more direct control over its supply chain. According to the e-commerce giant, its air fleet expansion comes at a time when people in communities across the country continue to adjust to an unprecedented time, with many relying on having the items they need delivered directly to their doorsteps. Now, with expanded cargo capacity to come, Amazon will continue to meet evolving demand and a growing customer base.
16. Raley’s Supermarkets
The pandemic has forced many food retailers to respond to massive customer demand for online grocery delivery and pickup. But West Sacramento, Calif.-based Raley’s Supermarkets is responding to a different kind of pandemic-related consumer demand: a demand for food transparency. According to a new report from FMI - The Food Industry Association and Label Insight, “Transparency Trends: Omnichannel Grocery Shopping from the Consumer Perspective,” 81% of shoppers say that transparency is more important to them now, during the pandemic, than ever before. The grocer’s latest move involves opening a new concept called Raley’s O-N-E Market, which is focused on food transparency and education, with a highly curated product selection. Raley’s O-N-E Market says that its assortment of products is nutritious, organic when possible, minimally processed and sustainably sourced. In every department, the items on the shelves are selected to exclude ingredients from the Raley’s O-N-E Market banned-ingredient list.
17. goPuff
In every city in America there’s a 23-year-old in need of last-minute snacks at 1 a.m., but who wants those snacks delivered. That’s why there’s Philadelphia-based goPuff, founded by two college students in 2013. For a flat $1.95 fee, a consumer can order candy, soda, toilet paper or a pre-made salad and get it delivered in under 30 minutes. The company operates in more than 500 cities across the United States and works with distributors to deliver snacks, drinks, ice cream, personal care items, home essentials, baby products, alcohol, over-the-counter medicine, and more. Last year, goPuff opened its 150th distribution facility, nearly tripling the number in one year.
18. Basics Market
There’s an innovative grocery retailer in Portland, Ore., that’s resonating with consumers who are looking for more local and less processed foods. Basics Market, which opened its fourth location in Portland’s Hillsdale area last February, was founded by natural food pioneer Chuck Eggert and works with local producers “to provide high-quality products at lower prices, while preserving nutrition and minimizing distribution costs and waste.” The retailer designs its stores with a small-format layout where shoppers can find ingredients organized by recipes that were developed by award-winning chefs and vetted by staff nutritionists for optimal health. Stores also offer a Discovery Kitchen classroom with state-of-the-art cooking facilities and a full schedule of free classes, including hands-on workshops, interactive demonstrations, and nutrition classes taught by Basics Market’s culinary and nutrition mentors.
19. PCC Community Markets
The PCC Community Markets cooperative has a deep and long history of being at the forefront of sustainability innovation. Last year, the Seattle-area grocer and largest community-owned food market in the nation became the first grocer in the world to pursue Living Building Challenge (LBC) Petal Certification, the most rigorous green-building standard. The retailer also became among the first to launch compostable deli containers, thus removing 8 million pieces of single-use plastic from the waste stream annually. Yet while PCC is perhaps best known for its environmental work, it’s also a formidable competitor within the grocery industry, consistently raising standards across all aspects of its business. At PCC, the produce department is 98% organic, the coffee bar is Fair Trade, and the locally sourced, premium-quality private label program is seeing double-digit growth year over year. In 2018, PCC contributed 50% of its after-tax earnings to its members and its surrounding communities. The co-op has also donated 430,000 meals to food banks and given to more than 600 community organizations and schools.
20. H-E-B
Texas grocer H-E-B is helping the hurting restaurant industry and tapping into pent-up consumer demand for foodservice with an innovative program. In April, the San Antonio-based retailer teamed up with local restaurants to prepare meals to go for H-E-B’s Meal Simple program of chef-inspired grab-and-go meals. Participating restaurants prepare and deliver the meals to a limited number of H-E-B stores, the restaurants set the price for each meal, and H-E-B pays them for what’s prepared. At the same time, the grocer isn’t abandoning dine-in foodservice. In June, the company confirmed that it’s adding a food hall, a bar and an outpost of restaurant chain True Texas BBQ to an Austin store this August. Could H-E-B be signalling that grocerants will come roaring back?