Executive Summary

The number of US shoppers buying groceries online, even if only occasionally, is substantial and growing rapidly.

• Some 36.8% of US consumers bought groceries online in the past year, up from 23.1% in 2018’s survey. We estimate that equates to almost 35 million more consumers buying groceries online between 2018 and 2019.
• However, shoppers typically buy relatively little online. Fully 72.4% buy only a small proportion of their groceries online while 11.8% buy a lot of their groceries online. Our data suggest new online shoppers could be diluting the proportion of grocery shopping the average shopper does online.
• Fully 62.5% of all people who bought groceries online in the past year bought them on Amazon.com, keeping Amazon in first place. 
• Amazon shoppers typically spend less of their grocery budget online than do shoppers using Walmart.com, Target.com or Kroger.com — suggesting Amazon grocery shoppers tend to be occasional or small-basket online shoppers.
• The portion of people buying groceries online who bought from Walmart jumped from 25.5% in 2018 to 37.4% in 2019. Target.com also grew shopper numbers substantially: Some 15.7% of online grocery shoppers bought from Target.com in the past year, versus just 6.9% in 2018.