‘Grocery is the Wild West for online. The size of the prize is huge, and it’s growing.’
Carrie Bienkowski, Peapod’s Chief Marketing Officer, 201811
Old habits die hard, but they do die. And if anyone can modify behaviour, it’s Amazon. Food retailing is attractive to Amazon in that it is the biggest non-discretionary sector – and one that is ripe for disruption. As we’ll discuss below, it’s also vital in that it enables Amazon to finally tap into a high-frequency purchase.
As of 2018, a whopping 20 per cent of US retail spending goes towards food but only 2 per cent of those sales take place online.12 Technology advances, as laid out above, will help to increase adoption with Amazon firmly in the driving seat. In 2017, the retailer reached 18 per cent share in the US online grocery market – double that of its closest competitor Walmart, according to One Click Retail.13
Amazon will do what it does best – act as a catalyst for change, propelling other supermarkets to invest in their own online grocery capabilities, ultimately improving the experience for the customer.