Food and Drink E-Commerce in Canada

2020 IMPACT

Responding to demand for food delivery, Loblaw Cos Ltd becomes a meal kit service provider

Meal-kit delivery service continued to accelerate in 2020, further driven by stay-at-home measures during lockdown and foodservice closures and restrictions resulting from the pandemic. Apart from the strong performance of established online meal kit service providers such as Goodfood and Hello Fresh, grocery retailers also expanded into this segment.

Online grocery sales surge as retailers rush to ramp up their e-commerce capabilities and delivery services

Online grocery sales saw tremendous growth in 2020 with many grocery retailers partnering with delivery platforms (ie, Instacart) or offering in-store pick-up services. Grocery retailers had to quickly ramp up their e-commerce capabilities early after the onset of COVID-19 as they were struggling to fulfil the surging demand despite the fact that they had already been moving strongly in the online direction in order to maintain an edge in neighbourhoods populated with several grocery retailers and in the face of the threat from Amazon after its acquirement of Whole Foods Market.

Consumers respond well to the option of using web browsers and apps to find grocery pickup locations near home

Click-and-collect continued to be popular with grocery retailers looking to expand their programmes to more locations in 2020, and curbside pick-up for food and drink ordered online also expanded rapidly during the lockdown period. Consumers have responded extremely well to the convenience of using their web browsers or an app to find the pickup locations closest to home and placing an order; having these options was set to further drive online grocery sales when the country started to anticipate further restrictions in the face of a potential second wave of the coronavirus in the fall.

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