Online grocery sales surge 37% in April to $5.3bn, finds Brick Meets Click

Brick Meets Click conducted an online survey​​ on April 22-24, 2020 of 1,651 adults, aged 18 years and older, who participated in the household’s grocery shopping.

While the number of online grocery shoppers who received a home delivery or placed a store pickup order grew only slightly (+1%) to 40 million online shoppers for the month of April, order frequency and spend has grown since March.

The month-over-month sales surge for April was driven primarily by a 33% increase in the total number of online orders made per month, and a 3% increase in order size from $82 to $85 as households continue to stock up on essential products, said the survey.

Online shoppers placed an average of 1.6 orders for the month of April, up from 1.2 orders during March, reported Brick Meets Click. 

Consumer satisfaction improved slightly during April with 50% of households staying with the same online grocery provider, compared to 47% in March. 

"This reflects the reality that current shopping experiences are still challenged by out-of-stocks and limited availability for pickup and delivery time slots as demand continues to outpace capacity,"​ noted the survey.

The survey results also found that 26% of households that had not bought groceries online in the last 30 days said they were extremely likely to try online shopping in the next three months. 

Consumer worries increase

Consumers also reported increased fears and concerns when it came to grocery shopping with 47% of households reporting a "high level of concern"​ about getting the virus, and 39% reported a 25% or greater drop in their monthly income compared to January/February 2020.

"These two factors are particularly important for retailers to understand,”​ said David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click.

“The level of concern that customers have about health affects how they choose to shop – online or in-store – and the loss of income impacts where consumers shop and what they buy."​