Online Grocery Sales Could Hit $123B by 2023

BARRINGTON, Ill. — Online grocery sales are estimated to be about $27 billion this year, according to Steve Bishop of Brick Meets Click (BMC), a provider of strategic insight and guidance to retailers, suppliers and technology providers. He presented new statistics during a recent webinar hosted by The Food Institute.

By 2023, however, online grocery sales are likely to reach between $80 billion and $123 billion. If these projections are realized, online grocery sales would exceed those of Kroger, the nation's largest traditional supermarket chain, according to Bishop.

Traditional brick-and-mortar grocers should respond accordingly as online sales will increasingly cannibalize in-store sales, he advised.

"The question and opportunity is who will capture the growing online sales," Bishop said. "Will the in-store lost sales be recaptured and offset by your online channel or lost to the competition? It's a good time to step up your online game."

Although online grocery sales currently account for only about 4 percent of market-level spending, it's expected these sales over the next decade will account for 11 percent to 17 percent. Some major markets like New York and San Francisco could potentially exceed that level, according to Bishop, while other markets where there is less invested online will likely fall below that 11-percent figure.

Bishop's webinar, "Get In On The Growth of Online Shopping," is available online at https://foodinstitute.com/webinar_library.