The Rise Of Instacart And Online Grocery Delivery

Online grocery delivery is seeing exceptional growth amid the coronavirus. Over the last few weeks, Instacart has seen customer order volume increase more than 500% year-over-year. But after the coronavirus, will demand for these online services stick?

Thousands of small businesses have closed due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. But one sector that’s seen exceptional growth is online grocery delivery.

A recent survey by RBC Capital Markets in March found that 55% of respondents had purchased groceries online, up from just 36% in 2018 and 15% in 2015 . Online grocery delivery service Instacart told CNBC that demand over the last few weeks has been the highest in the company’s history and that customer order volume is up more than 500% year-over-year.

Once a luxury, the coronavirus pandemic has transformed grocery delivery services like Instacart and Amazon Fresh into essential seemingly overnight. But whether or not grocery delivery will become mainstream in the long run will depend on how ther perform now.