The U.S. online grocery segment sustained its turbo-charged growth in March, ending up 21% versus a year ago with $9.7 billion in monthly sales, according to the Brick Meets Click Grocery Shopper Survey fielded March 30-31 and sponsored by Mercatus.
Delivery continued to be the main driver of the topline increase, as it surged more than 30% year over year, due to expansion of its monthly-active-user base, according to a news release.
The latest monthly performance gains for e-grocery sales reflect the ongoing impact of aggressive promotions and deep discounts on annual memberships and/or subscriptions that began around May 2024. These promotions have been offered by a broad range of grocery retailers, across mass, supermarkets and third-party providers, and predominantly benefit delivery although pickup gets a boost that’s largely confined to supermarket services, the release said.
“Delivery’s remarkable year-over-year rebound highlights the potency of promotional strategies that help customers save more money,” said David Bishop, partner for Brick Meets Click. “And memberships/subscriptions are becoming essential for retaining customers and driving more recurring revenue via gains in order frequency and average order values.”
March also marked five years since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, which produced a rapid and profound impact on how U.S. households purchased their groceries, the release said. In August 2019, e-grocery rang up $2 billion in monthly sales in the U.S. Then, seven months later in March 2020, e-grocery sales skyrocketed to $6.5 billion, a more than 200% increase, the release said.
This initial surge accounted for about 60% of the total gains for e-grocery since the pandemic. After peaking in early 2021, total e-grocery sales rebalanced through mid-2024, contributing another 20% of overall gains. More recently, there has been another 20% in gains driven by the uptick in subscriptions and memberships promotions, with March representing the eighth consecutive month of sales of over $9.5 billion, the release said.
Beyond the dramatic jump in sales, e-grocery has also experienced a significant shift in consumer demand by receiving methods. Prior to the pandemic, ship-to-home dominated, capturing 42% of all online sales, but it accounted for only approximately 18% in March. It currently trails the other two methods by a significant gap: Delivery has increased from a 26% share in 2019 to a 43% share today, and pickup has climbed from 32% to almost 39%, the release said.
In addition, more households are now likely to use multiple methods to receive their e-grocery orders during the month. Before COVID-19, 85% of MAUs used only one method during the month to get online orders, then, starting in March 2020 that share dropped to around 70% and has remained fairly consistent since then as the remaining households use multiple methods (some combination of pickup, delivery and/or ship-to-home), the release said.
Even with usage shifts, the release said the three methods largely continue to attract different customers because of trip missions and personal preferences, making it important to monitor and measure each separately:
- Ship-to-home’s utility was most pronounced in 2020 when lockdowns and shopping restrictions pumped up demand, but demand lessened as COVID-19 became endemic, only returning to growth in 2024.
- Delivery’s initial pandemic-fueled growth extended through 2022 before persistently high inflation drove a contraction that ended mid-year 2024 when aggressive promotions reignited demand and growth for the service.
- Pickup saw its sales growth stall in 2021 as increased access to delivery attracted more MAUs; however, its growth, much like delivery, resumed in 2025 as promotions of memberships or subscriptions helped to lessen the cost of using this service offered by supermarkets.
Overall, the pandemic motivated more households to try online grocery shopping. The share of U.S. households buying groceries online jumped from under 25% before COVID-19 to 57% in March 2020, and while it has gone as high as nearly 61% (February 2025), it ended March 2025 at 57% as well. At the same time, MAUs are now more active online as the number of monthly e-grocery orders received has increased from 2.0 pre-pandemic to 2.6 as of March, the release said.
“Customer expectations around online grocery have only increased since COVID-19 pushed many to give it a try,” said Mark Fairhurst, chief growth marketing officer for Mercatus. “Retailers that elevate the experience with relevant offers and meaningful rewards won’t just meet shoppers’ evolving needs — they’ll build stronger connections that fuel long-term growth.”