July 2026: eGrocery sales jump 21.5% versus year ago

Top line: Online grocery shopping continues to post exceptionally strong year-over-year (YOY) gains in the U.S., with monthly growth rates hovering around 20+% for nearly two years.

July 2026 Snapshot: Sales gains driven by higher average order frequency rates

For July 2026, total eGrocery sales gains of 21.5% was primarily driven by higher order activity among monthly active users (MAUs); average order frequency was up 14.9% compared to a year ago according to the Brick Meets Click Grocery Shopping Survey fielded July 29 – 31, 2026.

All of the key metrics for eGrocery were up against prior year in July 2026.

Delivery and Ship-to-Home continue to be the big eGrocery winner

• Delivery generated 60% of the YOY sales growth in July 2026, driven by massive surges in monthly active users and order frequency easily offset contracting in average order values. (Tip: For more on the size and impact of the shift toward faster cycle times, click here.)
• Ship-to-Home contributed roughly 25% of the YOY sales growth in July, matching Delivery’s percentage gains but from a smaller base. In contrast to Delivery, its performance was propelled by an impressive jump in order value, as Ship-to-Home AOV climbed over 20% versus last year.
• Pickup remains a consistent performer, but its growth lags behind the other two methods. Pickup posted positive YOY gains across all key performance indicators in July but could not match the growth rates achieved by Delivery and Ship-to-Home.

Online grocery is driving overall grocery spending growth

Where there is growth in overall grocery spending, it comes from online sales. In contrast to July’s online sales increase of 21.5% YOY, in-store sales contracted 2.6% YOY.

For every month in 2026, YOY online sales have moved upward while YOY brick-and-mortar sales have remained flat or declined.

Heads up! Online grocery shoppers are changing how they think about the trade-off between speed versus fees, and this is compounding the challenges faced by grocers who are trying to defend their in-store traffic while growing their first-party e-commerce platforms.

Tip: For more on the growing role that online plays in how people get their essential groceries, see our analysis of Census Bureau retail sales data here.

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