The Top Grocery eCommerce Platforms in the U.S.

Since COVID-19 emerged in early 2020, the global pandemic had a profound effect on our way of life and accelerated the shift to eCommerce – and nowhere is that more evident than in the grocery category. During the pandemic, millions of US consumers loaded up their carts and shopped online for the first time. The pandemic made shoppers search for a safe and convenient way to get the products they needed without venturing into grocery stores. In 2020, online grocery sales soared 54%, reaching over $95 billion. What started as a safety measure became a permanent habit, and online grocery has been one of the fastest-growing channels in US retail ever since.

There’s no doubt, we all like things quicker, safer, and simpler. When it comes to online grocery shopping, convenience is key. Many stores now offer curbside pickup and grocery delivery apps that give shoppers a wide variety of options and incentives to order their groceries online. According to eMarketer, a large portion of first time online grocery buyers preferred shopping online and said they would continue to do so simply because of convenience.

Trends We’re Seeing

Grocers have shifted their focus from capturing demand to serving it profitably. That means investing in order technology and moving toward dedicated spaces that optimize order procurement efficiency. It also means paid membership programs, like Hy-Vee Plus, that bundle free delivery and shopping services, making it easier for shoppers to move their loyalty from previous go-to grocery stores.

The most important lesson of the last several years is that fulfillment economics decide the winners. Retailers that pick and pack online orders out of stores they already operate have consistently outperformed those that built expensive centralized automated warehouses. Giants like Walmart and Amazon have leveraged that advantage aggressively, and the rest of the category has followed.

The second lesson is that online grocery is no longer just a sales channel — it’s a media channel. Retail media networks have become a primary profit engine for grocers, which changes how brands need to think about winning placement on the digital grocery shelf.

That being said, here are a few examples of the top eCommerce platforms shaping the grocery industry in the US.

Instacart

Instacart is one of the most successful online grocery shopping services in the country, and the most important third-party platform for brands trying to reach shoppers across regional grocery banners. Founded in 2012 by former Amazon engineer Apoorva Mehta, Instacart’s mission was to help brick-and-mortar grocers become successful online. Since then, the company has expanded rapidly into new markets and launched new features designed to make grocery e-commerce irresistible to consumers. Instacart’s delivery services allow customers to shop from a growing number of trusted local retailers and grocers from the comfort of their home, using a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Instacart’s growth can be attributed to its business model, which draws from other major retailers like Costco, Albertsons, Kroger, and thousands of other stores across the U.S. and Canada. It has since repositioned itself as a grocery technology and advertising company as much as a delivery service, which is where most CPG brands now engage with it.

Amazon Fresh

For years, Amazon has worn the crown as king of eCommerce, and grocery has been one of its priority categories. Amazon Fresh is all about convenience, technology, and keeping prices as low as possible. The platform delivers groceries right to customer’s doors and provides a pickup service from select retail locations. Amazon has concentrated its grocery investment on delivery speed and coverage rather than on building out its own store format, consolidating its physical grocery presence under Whole Foods Market. For brands, that means the Amazon grocery opportunity is primarily a digital shelf and advertising opportunity: search placement, content quality, and reviews do more work here than physical distribution does.

Walmart

Even before the pandemic, Walmart recognized the importance and opportunity of online grocery shopping and pickup services. In the second quarter of 2020, eCommerce sales soared 97%, an increase attributed to online grocery shopping and more people cooking from home. In a survey from that period, 56% of respondents cited Walmart as their retailer of choice when it came to buying groceries online.

Walmart has since become the clear leader in US grocery eCommerce, and its advantage is structural. It has invested heavily in high-tech systems that quickly pick and pack online grocery orders inside the stores it already operates, giving it a cost-per-order profile that pure-play delivery services and centralized warehouse models have struggled to match. For most food and CPG brands, Walmart is now the highest-volume online grocery destination in the country.

Kroger

Kroger is the nation’s largest traditional grocery chain and one of the top U.S. eCommerce retailers, with a shopping experience centered around ordering, pickup, delivery, and ship-to-home service.

Kroger’s eCommerce story is also the clearest illustration of the fulfillment lesson above. In 2018, the company announced plans to build a network of robotically-run fulfillment centers with Ocado. Kroger later reversed course, closing automated fulfillment centers, cancelling the remaining planned sites, and unwinding the partnership, with leadership publicly acknowledging that the automation bet had been pushed too far. Kroger has since refocused on making delivery faster and more profitable out of the stores it already operates.

Shipt

Bringing the store right to your door, Shipt is a simple, same-day delivery service of groceries and other household essentials. Today, Shipt is one of the leading grocery delivery services. Acquired by Target Corp in 2017, Shipt allows customers to browse millions of fresh grocery products, household items, and more from stores like CVS, Harris Teeter, H-E-B, Meijer, Petco, and of course Target. Customers shop from neighborhood retailers and a ‘Shipt Shopper’ handpicks and delivers selected items in two hours or less. Shipt offers both monthly and annual membership options, with no delivery fee above a minimum basket size, and it has increasingly been folded into Target’s own membership program — making it as much a Target retention tool as a standalone marketplace.

Thrive Market

Thrive Market is an online grocery experience that sells food and home products that are ‘good-for-you and good-for-the-planet’. The company delivers a ‘Whole Foods’-like organic vibe with a structured, positive business model. Thrive allows shoppers to create a personal grocery store customized to their special dietary needs and preferences. Thrive Market makes shopping simple, offering thousands of carefully selected items from brands that are mindful about people and conscious of the environment. Its membership model and tight curation make it one of the strongest platforms for natural, organic, and specialty diet brands — a smaller audience than the mass retailers, but a far more targeted one.

Whole Foods

Since 1980, Whole Foods has been a world leader in natural and organic foods. Founded by John Mackey, the company helped fuel the organic food movement. By stocking natural products and setting high-quality standards, the chain drew a loyal fan-base and made wholesome foods accessible to millions around the world. As Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017, a clear priority from the beginning was online ordering, a push that only accelerated when the pandemic sparked an unprecedented spike in online grocery orders. Whole Foods online delivery and pickup now runs through Amazon: delivery is available to Prime members for a per-order fee, with free pickup on qualifying orders. As Amazon’s primary physical grocery banner, Whole Foods is a materially important placement for natural and organic brands.

FreshDirect

Established in New York City, FreshDirect is one of the earliest online grocery delivery services in the United States. What makes FreshDirect stand out is their commitment to organic vendors and the elimination of middlemen in the supply chain. The company was an early proponent of the move towards food sustainability and rapidly grew in popularity by catering to socially-conscious consumers. FreshDirect focuses on reducing the time it takes for food to move from its source to the consumer by buying directly from farms, emphasizing organic food and locally grown items. FreshDirect also delivers numerous kosher foods and is recognized as a certified sustainable seafood vendor. Its footprint is regional rather than national, which makes it a targeted opportunity for brands with a strong Northeast presence.

Online grocery is no longer a disruption story — it’s the category’s growth engine. Brick and mortar grocery stores remain central, but the retailers winning are the ones that solved fulfillment cost and speed, and the platforms above are where the majority of online grocery spend now flows. For brands, the practical question is no longer whether to sell on them, but how to win the digital shelf once you’re there. The age of online shopping is well established, and a few eCommerce platforms will continue to lead the way.