Online Grocery Trends: A Shift to Pickup Ordering?

As consumers continue to be price-conscious when doing their grocery shopping, Instacart, the largest 3P delivery channel in the Grocery space, has increasingly leaned into Pickup as a growth driver, as it allows customers to save on delivery fees.

Pickup sales growth on Instacart has consistently outpaced Delivery growth over the past year, and Pickup has grown to account for ~6% sales as of June ‘23, compared to ~5% a year prior.

Instacart Delivery and Pickup Sales Y/Y Growth
United States | Online + Offline Sales | 1Q22 - 2Q23

That said, the trend is not uniform across grocers. ALDI and Food Lion, two of Instacart’s largest partners, have done over 25% of their Instacart sales via Pickup YTD. That share is significantly lower for peer grocers like Safeway and Meijer, while club stores like Costco and Sam’s Club have not rolled out Pickup capabilities at all.

% of Instacart Sales from Pickup Orders by Grocer
United States | Online + Offline Sales | 1Q22 - 2Q23

Most Instacart users have yet to embrace the Pickup trend - about 90% are still only using Delivery. However, among those who do use Pickup, roughly half are also using Delivery, suggesting that having both options available could allow grocers to capture more shopping occasions from their customers.

% of Instacart MAUs by Delivery / Pickup Ordering Behavior
United States | Online + Offline Sales | 1Q22 - 2Q23

Interested in understanding the behavior of Instacart shoppers?

Sources: Email Receipt Data, Physical Receipt Data

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