Digital grocery sales, basket size, up in July

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Digital grocery sales and basket size both increased in July, according to recent data. 

Compared to June, the average price of an item in a digital basket decreased by $0.20 and the average basket size increased by 1.8%, according to the data, from industry insights firm Incisiv and digital commerce and fulfillment solutions company Wynshop. The data is drawn from over 1 million shopper orders and survey results from more than 14,000 shoppers and 1,400 U.S. grocery executives.

“Digital grocery continues to robustly expand, despite the re-opening of physical stores post pandemic," said Charlie Kaplan, chief strategy officer at Wynshop. “Counter-intuitive outcomes like this underscore the importance to grocery decision makers of having a regular, highly-reliable source of information so that they can optimize their digital strategy and continue to refine their omni-channel order and fulfillment capabilities.”

Related:Regular online grocery users drive supermarket e-commerce sales

For traditional grocers, it’s the long-term online grocery customers — not the new digital shoppers — who bring in the bulk of e-commerce dollars, an analysis from earlier this year found. 

In the month of July, digital grocery sales continued to increase, with 12.9% of July grocery sales being digital, a 5.7% increase from June. Third-party sales continued to dip, with 22.5% of July digital grocery orders were through third parties, a decline of 2.3% from June. 

And digital basket sizes are on the rise, with the average July basket size increased by 1.8% and by two items from June. An average digital grocery basket size is now $75, and the average price of an item in a digital basket decreased by $0.20 in July.

“After an inflation-driven dip in digital grocery sales in Q2, it is good to see strong digital growth return once again,” noted Gaurav Pant, chief insights officer of Incisv. “Grocery shoppers’ initial response to inflation — spending less and buying fewer items—seems now to have been replaced with savvier shopping habits. Customers are being more selective about the items they choose and opting to buy directly from grocers rather than through intermediaries.”