Walmart, Amazon continue to lead online grocery

Dive Brief:

Walmart has gained the most share of the online grocery market in 2019 but Amazon leads in shopper satisfaction, according to to a study from Retail Feedback Group. Walmart's share is 37%, up 5% from last year, while Amazon's is 29%, down from 31% in 2018. Supermarkets' share of online grocery is 22%.
In terms of shopper satisfaction, Amazon has the highest rating on a five-point scale with a score of 4.6, while Walmart sits at 4.45. Both ratings represent incremental drops from last year. Supermarkets' satisfaction rating was 4.43, rising slightly from 4.36 last year.
The study found supermarkets had the highest rate of first-time use among online shoppers at 22%. Overall, online grocery is reaching greater parity with the in-store shopping experience, according to the report.

Dive Insight:

Walmart and Amazon continue to make moves to position themselves ahead of one another as online grocery offerings mature and consumers get more comfortable with the concept.

Amazon and Walmart are outperforming supermarkets when it comes to complete orders. About 8% of supermarket shoppers report not receiving all items in their order, versus 3% of Amazon shoppers and 5% of Walmart customers.

Walmart made a heavy push into e-commerce in 2019 while Amazon increased its emphasis on grocery offerings, including the recent elimination of Amazon Fresh fees for Prime members. This news followed Walmart's expansion of its unlimited grocery delivery membership plan nationwide.

When it comes to Instacart's performance in online grocery, RFG found adoption of the service is still low. Of the 53% of shoppers who said they use grocery delivery, only a quarter had groceries delivered from Instacart. Still, Instacart claims that it's accessible to 80% of all U.S. households, making it appealing to grocers who don't want to set up their own delivery infrastructure.

The report also explored what motivates shoppers to add to their online cart. Nearly 40% of online grocery shoppers were enticed to buy another item online for reasons like noticing a sale or good value (62%), spotting a new or interesting item (34%), remembering they needed it (31%), noticing it was fresh or in-season (18%), or seeing a retailer suggestion based on prior purchases (17%).