UK: best online grocery stores 2023

Tesco.com topped the ranking of online grocery stores in the UK, generating an estimated US$4.16 billion in e-commerce net sales in 2023. Sainsburys.co.uk came in second place with online grocery sales of USD 3.8 billion.

UK Online Grocery Marketplace

After a surge into double digits during the pandemic, the share of online food sales in the UK has stabilised post-pandemic, with around nine per cent of all food retail sales taking place online as of March 2024. Compared to the pandemic peak of 12 per cent in January 2021, online grocery demand in the UK has not declined and has remained robust despite the return of in-store shopping.

Online grocery shoppers

In March 2024, one fifth of the UK population purchased food and drink online, which is eight percentage points lower than the e-commerce penetration rate achieved at the peak of the pandemic in March 2021. However, current penetration rates in the food and drink e-commerce sector of the beverage market are clearly higher than before the pandemic. In 2022, UK online shoppers were the most common online purchasers of fresh food and drink among their European counterparts.