Online Grocery Customers Spend 32% More Per Purchase Than In-Store

Online grocery may only account for a small fraction of total grocery purchases, but those who have adopted digital channels represent grocers’ biggest spenders.

By the Numbers

According to data from PYMNTS’ study “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Catching the Coming eCommerce Wave,” created in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, which draws from an April survey of a census-balanced panel of nearly 2,700 U.S. consumers, found that consumers spend $88 on their average in-store grocery purchase. Conversely, eGrocery customers spend a significantly higher $116 on average per purchase.

Whether this comes from a desire for consumers to get more out of the added fees they pay for digital options, from the higher prices of items on some eGrocery platforms or from consumers’ freedom to shop without worrying about what they can carry home or to their cars, it is clear that online grocery customers spend significantly more.

The Data in Action

Noting this trend, grocers are working hard to earn consumers’ digital loyalty. For instance, multinational grocer Ahold Delhaize is investing in “building deeper digital relationships at scale,” according to the grocer’s CEO Frans Muller’s comments on the company’s earnings call last month.

“A fully fledged, fully integrated 360-degree digital shopping experience is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s … a must-have,” Muller said. “And our foundation here is strong. … In Q1, we delivered 2.7 billion personalized offers to almost 30 million households, with a number of those households digitally engaged also up well over 10%.”

Plus, grocers that are making these kinds of investments are seeing them pay off in terms of sales growth, as specialty grocer Sprouts Farmers Market noted on its own most recent earnings call.

“Our eCommerce growth continues to outpace our overall growth, signaling that our differentiated products resonate with customers,” Sprouts CEO and Director Jack Sinclair said. “We recently improved our site design and digital experience to improve conversion and sales. Our own site … and our Instacart and DoorDash partnerships continue to support our current customers’ needs while also bringing in new customers.”