Online grocery sales trending higher and could reach 10% by 2024

Consumer spending for online grocery in the U.S. is currently small potatoes. But make no mistake: It is growing slowly and will continue to grow, according to a recent report from Brick Meets Click, a Barrington, Ill.-based strategic advisory firm that specializes in the U.S. grocery industry.

U.S. consumer spending online for groceries is forecasted to grow 15 percent this year versus 2018, increasing the overall share captured by online in 2019 to 6.3 percent, according to Brick Meets Click, This is good news for retailers of private brands that are looking at all angles to increase market share of their store brands.

Online grocery comprised about 5.5 percent of overall grocery sales in 2018, according to Brick Meets Click. Sales were a meager 2.4 percent in 2016.

Online grocery sales could comprise 10 percent of total grocery sales by 2024, according to some pundits. In the next 10 to 15 years, sales could top 20 percent.

Even though any U.S. household with Internet access has been able to buy groceries from Amazon for many years, Brick Meets Click documented that in 2017 only 69 percent of the addressable U.S. market had access to at least one home delivery or pickup grocery service. Since then, however, national, regional and local food retailers have continued to invest heavily in capabilities and aggressively roll out their respective services.

In 2018, 81 percent of households had access and that figure is predicted to reach 90 percent during 2019.