T. Ozbun
Research expert covering food retail and all food topics for Italy and Brazil
U.S. Supermarkets - Statistics & Facts
Supermarkets are one of the most important channels in the retail industry, both for consumers who tend to prefer them over other options, and for the value they generate, with some of the major chains also being among the top retailers not only in the United States but across North America. Supermarkets and other grocery stores sales in the United States exceeded 810 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, more than double the amount generated in 1992. This constituted the majority of sales in the food and beverage industry and a large portion of total retail and food services sales in the country.
Size of the sector
With approximately 62 thousand stores, supermarkets and other grocery stores are the main format in the U.S. food and beverage retail sector. When it comes to employment size in grocery stores, most fall on the far ends of the spectrum, some having just under five employees and others over 500 employees. The edible grocery segment constituted the most lucrative department for supermarkets in terms of sales in 2020, generating around 322 billion U.S. dollars in sales compared to 176 billion U.S. dollars in the non-edible grocery segment.Leading companies
As the e-commerce share of total retail revenue in the food and beverage sector, despite its growth, remains very small, supermarkets continue to rely on brick-and-mortar stores in generating the bulk of their revenue. The Kroger Company currently operates the largest number of supermarkets in the U.S., with around 2,700 stores. Somewhat behind, with sales reaching just over half of Kroger's, comes Albertsons Companies, followed then by Royal Ahold Delhaize, which generated about 63 percent of its worldwide sales in the United States alone. Publix Super Markets came in fourth place among the leading supermarkets in the country, with about 54.5 billion U.S. dollars in sales.Consumer behavior and online shopping
U.S. consumers are faced with a wide variety of choices when it comes to where to purchase their groceries. In 2023, Statista's Global Consumer Survey found that 69 percent of consumers in the United States regularly shopped for food and everyday products from supermarkets. Over half of consumers tended to shop exclusively in-store, a behavior which increased with . Huge potential in the supermarket sector relies on online grocery shopping, as evidenced by the share of food and beverage sales in total U.S. e-retail sales which showed a constant growth between 2017 and 2022, and are expected to grow further by 2027. This growth was not only evident in sales, but also through the actions of consumers, who, when faced with the choice of online food and grocery providers , seemed to prefer big-box retailers over other choices.
