Online grocery ticks down (KR)
Online grocery sales decreased 2% in July to $6.7B from June. The decline was in ship to home sales down 8% while delivery/pickup remained flat for the third consecutive month according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus as seen in the chart below. The sales level for pickup/delivery is 4.5x greater than pre-pandemic levels. July’s decline was due to decreased spending per order and a slight decrease in order frequency while the monthly active users increased slightly. The weighted average spending per order decreased more than 5% in July from June as the ship to home average order value fell 19% month over month while the pickup/delivery was flat. Order frequency decreased less than 1% to 2.68 orders per monthly active user during July. Ship to home’s share of online grocery orders increased three percentage points to 34%. The number of U.S. households that purchased groceries online increased 5% from June to 66.5 million households. July’s repeat intent rate fell four percentage points to 56%
UK online grocery spend ticks down (NOMD)
About 20% of U.K. consumers purchased groceries online in the 12 weeks ended August 8, the lowest level since October. 13.0% of grocery sales are now online, down from a peak of 15.4% in February. U.K. consumers are making more trips into the store where average basket sizes are 10% smaller than online. As a result, grocery sales fell 4.0% YOY in the 12 weeks ended August 8. In the four-week period ended August 8, sales only declined 0.5% YOY. The four-week period represents the smallest YOY decline since April. Compared to the same week in 2019, grocery sales are up 9.9% as consumers are still eating more at home. Like for like grocery prices in the U.K. have been falling since April. In the 12-week period ended August 8, prices were 0.8% lower. However, over the 4-week period, prices were up 0.4%. The U.K. has not seen the same inflationary pressures in the grocery stores that the U.S. has. For example, Nomad Foods reported higher gross margins in the latest quarter without price increases.
Truck rates hit a new high in July (UTZ)
Truckload rates hit new highs in July. Freight volumes remained elevated in July but came off the highs in June. The DAT truckload volume index was 222 in July, down 8% from June. DAT’s index is a blend of dry van, refrigerated, and flatbed freight carried by truckload carriers. (The baseline of 100 is from January 2015.) The Chief of Analytics at DAT said, “With holiday merchandise already arriving at ports, for many shippers, there is more freight than the commercial transportation system has the capacity to handle efficiently. As a result, all modes are under stress.” The national average spot rate of van loads on DAT’s network was $2.73 per mile, up to five cents from June and 70 cents or 34% higher YOY, including fuel surcharges. The national average spot rate for refrigerated rose four cents to $3.14, a new high.
Contract truckload rates set records for all three truckload types. The average contract rate for dry van increased 5 cents from June to $2.75, up 32% YOY. The average refrigerated rate increased two cents to $2.90 per mile, up 24% YOY. On DAT’s spot load network, the number of loads posted fell 17.1% from June, while trucks fell 6.6%. There were 5.8 available loads for every available truck on DAT’s network, up from 5.6 in June. The West Coast ports are driving the demand for truckload services. The average outbound spot rate for van truckloads was $3.70 per mile at the beginning of August, up 2% from July. Higher freight rates are a margin headwind for nearly every consumer staples company.
