Online April grocery sales growth beats inflation

Online grocery shopping is on the upswing.

Online grocery sales dramatically increased in April 2024.

According to new Signifyd Ecommerce Pulse data, online grocery sales rose 22% year-over-year in April 2024, with the year-over-year supermarket inflation rate only sitting at 0.5% for the month. 

Signifyd analysis of digital profiles attached to grocery orders indicates this boost in sales was driven by a slowdown in the rise of grocery prices, which drew in 18% new online grocery shoppers. The number of online grocery transactions jumped 34% and product volume increased 29% compared the same month a year earlier.

However, the average amount each shopper spent per order in April was down 9% from April 2023. Cart size, or the number of items per online order, fell 4%.

“There are more online grocery transactions occurring than last year and this is driven by an influx of new customers,” said Signifyd data analyst Phelim Killough, who prepares the monthly Pulse report. “On average consumers are buying less as these new customers test the channel as well as exhibiting lingering price sensitivity with still elevated, albeit plateaued, prices.”

[Read more: Online grocery sales up 4% year-over-year in April; flight to mass retailers continues]

The online grocery category’s 22% boost significantly beat out the 9% year-over-year increase in sales for all online verticals, which landed at 9% in April, according to Signifyd’s Pulse Data.

April 2024 e-commerce sales compared to April 2023

Overall, five of the eight key retail verticals were in positive territory in April compared to the previous. Besides grocery — apparel, auto parts, electronics and home goods all saw sales that eclipsed April 2023. Leisure, luxury and beauty had small year-over-year declines.

Fraud trends in troubling direction

Fraud pressure across all verticals was up 24% compared to April 2023, according to Signifyd. Fraud pressure is a measure of the rise and fall of orders determined by Signifyd’s artificial intelligence models to be very risky and therefore likely fraudulent.

The increase in payment fraud was accompanied by what Singnifyd observed as a rise in consumer abuse, such as false claims that a package never arrived or that an order that did arrive was not as described on a retail site or otherwise defective. 

False consumer claims have been on an upward trajectory since the COVID-19 pandemic and have at times been rising faster than traditional payment fraud, according to Signifyd.

Signifyd’s Ecommerce Pulse data is derived from transactions on Signifyd’s Commerce Network of thousands of e-commerce retailers and brands.