A Brief Look At Online Grocery Trends Amid The Coronavirus

The coronavirus has forced many people to embrace online grocery shopping options and this trend will help spur overall e-commerce growth amid the coronavirus pandemic and related "stay at home measures," Loup Ventures Andrew Murphy and Will Thompson wrote in a blog post.

Loup Ventures' survey of 245 U.S. consumers found 72% of consumers are spending more money online, mostly due to groceries and sales of other home staples. Online sales as a percentage of total retail sales are likely to grow from 11.4% in the fourth quarter of 2019 to as much as 32% in the second quarter of 2020.

Benzinga is covering every angle of how the coronavirus affects the financial world. For daily updates, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.

Why It's Important

It should be noted that overall retail sales are likely to be down 30% to 40% due to country-wide closures beginning in early March, according to Loup Ventures. Many of the stores that remain open only offer to pick up options.

Online sales as a portion of total retail sales will fall in the third quarter, assuming car dealerships and other big-box stores re-open their stores. It's also likely some consumers will continue buying groceries and other staples online.

Over a multi-decade timeframe, online sales will ultimately "stabilize" at around 55% of total retail sales. This implies a potential opportunity for innovative retailers in the "hundreds of billions."

Latest Ratings for AMZN

Mar 2020

Deutsche Bank

Maintains

Buy

Mar 2020

Wedbush

Maintains

Outperform

Feb 2020

Aegis Capital

Maintains

Buy

View More Analyst Ratings for AMZN
View the Latest Analyst Ratings

See more from Benzinga

© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.