蘑菇AV

Walmart has the largest audience of any digital grocery platform. But our survey found that Amazon Fresh customers were more active and willing to try new products.

Their grocery businesses are also growing much faster than their restaurant businesses, with DoorDash grocery sales set to boom by 22.9% this year and Uber Eats by 18.6%. Click here to view our full forecasts for US DoorDash grocery sales and US Uber grocery sales. Convenience, spending power, and new consumer habits are driving and sustaining this trend.

Uber will shell out $700 million for an 85% stake in Turkish food and grocery delivery platform Trendyol Go. Food hall company and Grubhub owner Wonder raised $600 million in a funding round that valued the company at over $7 billion; the funds will be used to double its physical retail presence and expand beyond the New York metro area.

Additionally, 69% of US digital grocery buyers say price is most important to them when choosing an online grocery service, compared with 48% citing delivery speed. 3. Patience is a growing virtue for many consumers. Consumers ranked speed their most important priority for delivery in 2022, according to McKinsey's July 2024 "Voice of Consumer Survey."

Aldi opened nearly 120 stores across the US last year and plans to add 225 more to its store count in 2025, making it the third-largest grocery chain in the country, according to the retailer.

The new program will enable suppliers to sell their products in Walmart鈥檚 over 330 supermarkets. Sticking to the party line: Walmart鈥檚 statement of support for Chinese manufacturers is somewhat ironic since the retailer has been pushing the very same suppliers for cost concessions to mitigate the impact of tariffs.

Both companies are leaning into groceries to boost order frequency and loyalty and beefing up their ad businesses to capitalize on retail media interest. At the same time, a deal would likely clear antitrust hurdles easily, given that the two companies don鈥檛 overlap in any markets.

The April 2 policy is expected to boost prices by 1.6%鈥攔oughly a year鈥檚 worth of grocery inflation by CPI standards鈥攁nd all 2025 tariff actions could add another 2.8%. Fresh produce prices are projected to rise 2.2% from the April policy and 4.0% overall.

Grocery (the laggard): In addition to the sensory aspects of grocery shopping, the razor-thin margins in this category mean it鈥檚 difficult to execute on last-mile deliveries economically. Digital penetration of grocery remains low in most global markets, although it often ranks as one of the fastest-growing categories. The Wild Card of Cross-Border Ecommerce in the Gulf.

Mondelez sees 鈥渃onsumers switching to more essentials in 驳谤辞肠别谤测,鈥� causing snack demand to suffer. That trend is unlikely to change anytime soon: 鈥淚 really do not expect to see a significant improvement in consumer confidence in the near term in the US,鈥� Van de Put said. Our take: Economic uncertainty is sending shoppers straight into cost-saving mode.

With cost-consciousness on the rise, it鈥檚 no surprise that private label grocery brands grew nearly four times faster than national brand sales, according to the Private Label Manufacturers Association. Retailers that invest in creative, high-quality, and culturally relevant store-brand strategies are well-positioned to win in this environment. Go further: Read our Private Label Brands 2025 report.

Shoppers are also shifting toward these stores as primary grocery sources: Fewer shoppers visited other grocery stores before or after stopping at Trader Joe鈥檚 or Aldi in 2024 versus 2023. Implications for retailers and brands. Retailers should align loyalty program goals with the development and growth of private label brands.

Shopping habits foretell the next phase of digital growth for grocery products.

The big picture: Walmart is well-positioned to ride out uncertainty thanks to its large grocery and private-label businesses, price advantage, and scale. But its cautious outlook underscores the challenging environment retailers face in 2025 as they navigate tariffs, falling consumer sentiment, and weakening demand.

Roughly 60% of Walmart鈥檚 sales come from necessities like groceries, leaving it less vulnerable to shifts in discretionary spending鈥攁nd better positioned to attract more affluent shoppers in search of deals. Its ecommerce business is also growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to investments in faster delivery, a vastly expanded marketplace assortment, and retail media revenues.

The insight: Consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending in anticipation of tariff-related shocks to their buying power, alongside existing inflationary pressures on necessities like groceries. Adjusted for inflation, consumer spending rose just 0.1% MoM in February after declining by 0.6% MoM in January, per the US Commerce Department.

But the biggest determinant of where consumers buy their groceries is their proximity to a store. Opening more stores makes its locations more convenient to more consumers, helping the retailer capture more grocery spending.

The news: Costco鈥檚 comparable sales jumped more than expected in Q4, as shoppers happily splashed out on big-ticket items like 99-inch televisions and gold jewelry and visited the retailer more often to purchase groceries. Comparable sales rose 6.8% YoY during the holiday quarter, outpacing expectations for a 6.4% rise.

The 10% across鈥憈he鈥慴oard tariff will hit grocery aisles first, pushing up the cost of staples such as avocados, bananas, and coffee. That sticker shock is poised to push Gen Z鈥攁lready the generation most willing to try private鈥憀abel goods, per a December Circana survey鈥攖oward lower鈥慶ost store brands. We expect retailers to follow Albertsons鈥� lead with more private label offerings.

Grocery prices鈥攁lready up 2.4% year over year and 0.5% month over month in March鈥攁re expected to climb further as tariffs drive up costs on imported goods like fruit, seafood, olive oil, and cheese. Items packaged in aluminum will also be affected. Perishable foods are likely to see increases first, followed by shelf-stable goods.

More than other generations, Gen Z shopped for every non-grocery retail category online, except home furnishings and alcoholic beverages. Key stat: Economic uncertainty has consumers putting off plans for renovations.