BENTONVILLE, AR - As consumers continue to crave convenience, the grocery delivery retail war is heating up in a big way. Companies have been making deals, breaking deals, and partnering and re-partnering up even more than the contestants on Bachelor in Paradise. But there’s always one company that rises to the top in every sector, and Walmart, it seems, is using its major-player status to lead the pack in grocery delivery.
While Instacart and Shipt are considered to be big dogs in the grocery delivery game, Walmart pulled ahead, servicing 62 percent more customers in June than Instacart, according to Second Measure. Though Walmart is ahead of the pack nationwide, looking at regional data reveals a different view of the sector.
In urban markets, Walmart’s lead drops off—the retailer holds less than two percent of the New York metro market, two percent in San Francisco, eight percent in Boston, and nine percent in Los Angeles. Walmart may not have much of a grasp on coastal markets, but head inland to central and southern urban markets, like Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix, and the retailer has secured more than half of the market. However, many other urban markets are divided between several different delivery services, including Instacart, Peapod, Fresh Direct, Amazon Fresh, Shipt, and others.
Walmart dissolved its partnership with Deliv in February of this year, a major split, not unlike when Whole Foods broke its ties with Instacart. But these decisions have surprisingly not impacted either company’s presence in the market, as Walmart continues to perform strongly, and Instacart saw a 23 percent bump in customers just six months later.
Of course, one of Walmart’s biggest competitors is Amazon, whose Amazon Prime Now and AmazonFresh services fight for their place in the market. While Amazon Prime Now is on the rise, AmazonFresh is declining—down 19 percent year-over-year, according to Second Measure. Target and Shipt are another delivery power couple, as following Target’s acquisition of the delivery service, Shipt saw its customers increase by 69 percent.
Walmart has cemented its presence in the grocery delivery sector, and continues to look for new ways to reach more markets and more consumers, recently testing an unlimited delivery service, but with the sector getting consistently more competitive, how long can Walmart hold on to its lead?
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