Online grocery continues to grow (ACI)
Online grocery website visits have decelerated since the early weeks of the pandemic. Demand far exceeded the supply of delivery slots and store pickers early on, but most supermarkets have added resources and capacity over the summer. Albertsons is showing an acceleration in website visits since the beginning of July, as seen in the following chart. Albertsons reported a 276% YOY increase in digital sales in its most recent quarter ended June 20. Kroger’s website had a marked deceleration in website visits since mid-May. Walmart’s website visits have decelerated over the last month, according to the SimilarWeb report. In Coresight Research’s latest survey, 60% of respondents had purchased groceries online in the past 12 months, up from 52% back in March. Walmart became the leading retailer for online grocery shoppers, surpassing Amazon in the latest survey. 55% of respondents said they had purchased from Amazon, down from 63% in March. For a category with a high frequency like grocery simply purchasing from a website over the past year is not that telling.
Beer shipments rise (BUD)
July’s 1.9% YOY growth was the second consecutive month of YOY increases in beer shipments, according to the Beer Institute. The Beer Institute utilized unofficial estimates of domestic tax paid on shipments compiled by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). The industry shipped 16.6M barrels of beer in June and 15.1M barrels in July. The Beer Institute noted that shipment data from March through July would likely be revised as the TTB has postponed for up to 90 days reporting and payment requirements up to June 30. Through the first seven months of 2020, US brewers have shipped nearly 97.7M barrels, a 0.7% decline from the prior year. Shipments declined in the first four months, especially in April and May, when on-premise locations were shut down.
Sprouts Farmers Market launches a new campaign.
Sprouts Farmers Market has launched its new marketing campaign this week, including a new logo and slogan. The company began advertising on TV for the first time in June. The companies new messaging is centered around fresh food. The new motto, “Where goodness grows,” is promoted in several short videos. The logo now features a curling vine around the “O” in Sprouts. The new marketing message comes from Gil Phipps, Chief Marketing Officer, who joined in April from Kroger. The new management team at Sprouts Farmers Market is making some significant changes to how it goes to market and the pandemic happens to be an opportune time with grocery spending elevated and a heightened awareness of eating healthier.
The new 30-second commercial can be seen here:
