Online grocery continues to gain (KR)
Online grocery sales grew 9% sequentially in June, according to a survey from Brick Meets Click/Mercatus. The number of orders continued to grow as grocers allocated more capacity for online shopping, as seen in the table below. The frequency of orders continued to grow as the number of active customers continued to increase. Online grocery has accelerated several years of gains in months during the pandemic. The share gains have not come at the expense of the grocery chains, as we detailed in part 2 of our grocery in a pandemic black book last week. For webcast replay and materials: CLICK HERE
Consumer survey points to flattening of grocery spend (KR)
In the last week of our grocery survey, 50% of respondents reported their spending on groceries was the same as the previous week, as seen in the following chart. This is two percentage points less than our last survey two weeks earlier. The percentage of respondents that said they were spending less than the last week was 10%, while the percentage saying they were spending more was 11%.
When will workers return to the office? (ACI)
According to a CNBC survey, many large corporations are expecting to have more than half of their employees back to the office in September. Most large employers have not formally disclosed their plans for re-opening their offices. Major technology companies, including Twitter, Facebook, and Google, have told employees they can work from home until year-end. Challenger, Gray, & Christmas estimates that 35 to 40% of all jobs can be accomplished from home. According to a survey from Korn Ferry, half of the American professionals are reluctant to return to the office, citing health concerns while only one-third planned to return to their re-opened office. The desire to re-open schools is even higher than returning to the office, but the logistics around social distancing are more challenging in schools. If people stay home from schools and offices this fall, the breakfast and lunch dayparts will continue to see elevated consumption from grocers, and sales will exceed current consensus estimates.
