How Walmart and Amazon Are Transforming Grocery Shopping
Is speedy delivery enough to capture a share of online food and beverage sales? 
Author: Krista Garcia

That’s what US retailers are betting on. Just this week, Walmart announced the expansion of its Postmates partnership, and Amazon launched Prime delivery from Whole Foods in its seventh city, Los Angeles.

So what’s driving this grocery delivery competition? 

“Food and beverage is a massive $700 billion category that still sees less than 3% of sales occurring online, lagging virtually every other product category. Heightened competition and increased investment in same-day delivery will only serve to accelerate the channel shift for grocery, bringing tens of billions of dollars online,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal retail analyst.

Retailers have decided that the missing piece in unlocking food sales online is same-day delivery. Consumers are approaching an inflection point where just a few years ago, there was little interest in same-day delivery. Not many retailers offered it and it came at a premium.

But in a March 2018 survey from Dropoff, the number of US internet users who had used same-day delivery rose significantly in 2018, to 31% from 17% last year. Groceries, were the top category wanted on the same day (64%) as well as the leading category bought that way (19%).

Sourced through Scoop.it from: retail.emarketer.com