Dive Brief:
- Digital solution provider Unata found that Thanksgiving boosted online grocery sales, which saw a large consumer shift from brick-and-mortar stores for their turkey day needs, according to Progressive Grocer.
- Unata measured both online and in-store shopping activity across numerous U.S. grocers and found that during the Thanksgiving holiday period, there was an average increase of 22.6% for online sales, with unique users increasing 20.3%.
- The numbers show, Unata believes, that if grocery stores don’t offer their customers a way to buy online, they will miss out on sales during busy periods like Thanksgiving.
Dive Insight:
While Unata found that online grocery sales were a big hit Thanksgiving week, online sales have been less than stellar overall this year.
According to a recent survey by TABS Analytics, online grocery represents a miniscule percentage of the $800 billion overall grocery revenue, coming in at around 2%. This number is not too far from where it was just a year earlier, and the fact that it’s not growing like other e-commerce products is making some question whether it’s really a viable option for success.
Statista released a report exploring online grocery and revealed that many consumers prefer the brick-and-mortar experience due to a more varied assortment of products, better pricing and a superior product.
Grocery analysts seem divided. While some trumpet the possibilities of online grocery, others feel that improvements need to be made to better appeal to the masses.