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Growth rates will decline, but digital grocery will remain a key focus for retailers looking to drive incremental sales dollars in ecommerce.

How can retailers in grocery, the second-largest ecommerce category, optimize their online business to succeed?

Grocery is the second-largest ecommerce category we track, garnering $220.48 billion in 2025, according to our 鈥淯S Digital Grocery Forecast 2025鈥� report. Walmart is the top digital grocery retailer, capturing 31.6% of US grocery ecommerce sales in 2025, followed by Amazon (22.6%) and Kroger (8.6%).

The National Retail Federation鈥檚 (NRF) Big Show closed earlier this week, bringing together retailers, tech companies, and industry experts to discuss the future of retail. Key takeaways included Gen Z鈥檚 influence on shopping, which will last even if TikTok goes away, the accelerating trend cycle, hesitation to adopt new payment technologies, and the transformation of digital grocery. Here are four takeaways from the event.

As the digital grocery landscape grows more crowded, retailers must meet consumers' expectations around product selection, mobile app features, and fulfillment. 鈥凄颈驳颈迟补濒 grocery is no longer an emerging category,鈥� said our analyst Blake Droesch. 鈥淚t鈥檚 grown really fast over the last couple of years, and the market is pretty mature at this point.鈥� Here are three ways retailers can stay competitive, according to our Digital Grocery Opportunity report.

Digital grocery sales are growing again across Western Europe as inflation forces higher spending, click and collect gains momentum, and mobile loyalty schemes come to the fore. 鈥�

Grocery is set to become the largest US ecommerce category by 2026.

Over half (56%) of US grocery retail executives are concerned about competition from internet grocery stores (like Thrive Market or Fresh Direct), according to a June 2024 survey from Deloitte. Nearly as many (53%) are concerned about third-party grocery shopping apps like Instacart or DoorDash.

Walmart has the largest audience of any digital grocery platform. But our survey found that Amazon Fresh customers were more active and willing to try new products.

Shopping habits foretell the next phase of digital growth for grocery products.

Every step of the grocery shopping journey is being digitized; how do consumers feel about it?

With rapid deliveries projected to account for 70% of India's online grocery market by 2030, up from 45% today, Amazon faced a clear choice: Jump into the fray or risk falling behind. Our take: Amazon sees a massive opportunity in India, a country where we expect ecommerce sales to soar 18% this year to $115.76 billion.

The Digital Grocery Opportunity (蘑菇AV subscription required).

Inflation will drive sales growth, but consumers are also spending more of their overall grocery dollars online.

Digital grocery will become the largest ecommerce category by 2026, according to our US Digital Grocery 2024 report. To grow their share of digital grocery sales, brands need to understand what motivates consumers to buy groceries online, how the digital grocery experience can be improved, and where growth opportunities lie.

Since May 2022, online grocery prices have risen faster than those of any other ecommerce category, per Adobe鈥檚 Digital Price Index. In July, the year-over-year price change for online grocery reached 13.4%, a record high for the year.