The pandemic changed everything about groceries: what, how much and when people bought, but especially the where. While grocery e-commerce had been an area of growth for several years, online food and beverage sales exploded in 2020. IRI and 210 Analytics delved into the numbers, including fresh food e-commerce, to understand what drove growth and if we’re in store for further gains in 2021.
Food and beverage e-commerce
Grocery e-commerce has been an area of growth for many years. In 2017, the online portion of total food and beverage sales was a mere 3.3%. Come 2019 that had grown to 6.0% or $31 billion. The pandemic prompted not only further growth of e-commerce, but a rapid acceleration. By the end of 2020, e-commerce made up 9.5% of all food and beverage sales in the U.S., reflecting annual growth of 84%, according to IRI.