After years of prep, Walmart's online grocery biz has its big moment
Virtually stocking up on nut butters... Online grocery shopping has surged in this virus economy — whether it's delivery or curbside pickup, the less human contact required, the more popular a service becomes. But one player in the e-grocer surge stands out aggressively: Walmart. While the market has plummeted, Walmart stock just hit an all-time high.
- 1/3: That's the fraction of shoppers who bought online groceries in the past week, according to a recent survey.
- Nearly half were 1st-time egrocery customers.
- 58%: Walmart's huge share of those new e-grocery customers (Amazon trails with 14%, Target with 10%).
Walmart is America's grocery... With 11.5K stores worldwide and 2.2M employees, Walmart is also Earth's biggest brick-and-mortar retailer. And it's spent the past 5 years aggressively expanding its ecommerce infrastructure:
- 3.2K locations let you pickup groceries curbside, while 1.6K spots deliver to your door.
- 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart, which also helps.
- 56% of Walmart's sales are now from groceries.
Coronavirus is giving e-grocery its moment... Online grocery is still in the toddler stage with early adopters. Walmart's ecommerce biz is still unprofitable, but its online sales grew 37% last year (largely thanks to groceries, and its ecommerce sites are live in 10 countries). After you try e-ordering Walmart's asparagus and cashew butter, investors think you'll stick around for the cheap socks and absurd number of locations (likely) nearby.