grocery

The Coronavirus Outbreak Causes Online Grocery Orders to Skyrocket

People under lockdown still need to eat.
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· less than 3 min read

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Cities across China are locked down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but people still need to eat. The result? A nationwide grocery delivery surge, reports the AP.

  • Local markets and online retailers like JD.com and Alibaba are still delivering groceries in cities under lockdown.
  • JD.com says fresh food sales increased 280% YoY for the week ending Feb. 2 in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak originated.

Managers of small grocers without dedicated delivery teams have resorted to driving their own cars through private neighborhoods to deliver online orders, one Wuhan evacuee tells Reuters.

As for the physical stores themselves? Coronavirus anxiety is reshaping merchandising strategies. To curb concerns about food shortages, some markets have increased their inventory of vegetables and other foods by around 50%, per the AP. State media are also pumping out photos of abundant vegetable deliveries to grocery stores.

My takeaway: Everyday convenience is online grocery delivery’s biggest selling point. But reports from China suggest online delivery is also surprisingly useful in emergency situations.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.