Online grocery sales reached $7.7 billion in June, up 8 percent year over year for the month, with delivery surging, ship-to-home sales showing strong results, and pickup sales holding steady relative to last year, according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopper Survey. The delivery category jumped to $2.9 billion for the month, rising 18 percent over the same period last year. That’s due to surges in active monthly users and increased order activity. Despite the increase, the value of orders dipped. Delivery gained 325 basis points to capture 38 percent of online sales in June. Meanwhile, the pickup category remained the share leader despite dipping 352 basis points for the month compared to a year ago. The report noted that order frequency and average order volume dipped, offsetting an increased monthly average user base. Overall, online grocery sales’ monthly active user base was up nearly 4 percent year over year, a result of reactivating lapsed users, according to the report.
U.S. import prices were unchanged in June as lower prices for energy products offset a rebound in the cost of food, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. The flat reading in import prices followed a 0.2 percent drop in May. Economists polled by Reuters had expected import prices, which exclude tariffs, to dip 0.1 percent. In the 12 months through June, import prices increased 1.6 percent. That followed a 1.4 percent advance in May. Moderate import prices supported views that inflation was on a downward path and could provide the Federal Reserve room to cut interest rates in September. Government data last week showed consumer prices fell in June for the first time in four years. Producer prices rose last month, but details of the reports were much more benign. Imported fuel prices dropped 1.0 percent after rising 0.4 percent in May. Crude petroleum and natural gas prices both declined. The cost of imported food increased 0.7 percent after dropping 1.6 percent in May.
And finally, the prospective new owner of Royal Mail has said he will not walk away from the requirement to deliver letters throughout the UK six days a week, as long as he is running the service. “As long as I’m alive, I completely exclude this,” Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky told the BBC. Mr Kretinsky has had a £3.6bn offer for Royal Mail accepted by its board. Shareholders are expected to approve the deal in the coming months, but the government also has a say over whether it goes ahead.
That’s all for this week. Enjoy the weekend and the song of the week, Mr. Roboto by Styx.
The post This Week in Logistics News (July 13 – 19) appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.