Online grocery turns to decline in Sweden

In Sweden in October online grocery saw a decline of -2,7% in sales compared to a year ago. Despite the very tough comparison numbers from the last fall, it is a bit surprising that online decreased for the second time this year (first was in July). However, the growth of the entire grocery sector was a merger 0,1% (stores grew by 0,2%). This is probably due to the fact that people have started to go back to spending money on restaurants.

The share of groceries sold online in Sweden during October was 4,9%. This is still significantly higher than the pre-pandemic 2-3%.

The decline was driven by the diminishing sales of Click & Collect, which declined by -4,5%. One can guess that the non-urban small store Click & Collect services that sprang rapidly during the pandemic are now being scaled back or even closed down. Home delivery was more resilient during October as it declined only by -1,2%.