Walmart’s Dominance in Grocery Underscores Brick-and-Mortar Advantage

In the high-stakes contest for grocery dollars in the United States, Walmart’s familiar supercenter aisles are proving more magnetic than the innovations of Amazon’s online grocery empire.

While both retail giants scramble for dominance, the numbers show that consumers still reach for shopping carts over keyboards when it comes to filling their fridges.

PYMNTS Intelligence’s September Share of Wallet report, “Amazon Extends Gains While Walmart Holds Steady in Q2 Spending,” reveals how entrenched Walmart’s grocery dominance is.

As of the second quarter of 2025, Walmart holds a 21% share of the U.S. grocery market, a figure bolstered by more than 4,600 locations that place 90% of Americans within 10 miles of a store. Despite billions of dollars invested in Whole Foods and Fresh, Amazon has grown its grocery share only modestly, reaching 2.7%, up less than one percentage point in six years.

While Amazon’s eCommerce engine continues to disrupt other retail categories, it faces tough headwinds in grocery, where instant access, curbside pickup and impulse buying still favor Walmart’s brick-and-mortar network.

During the latest quarter, commentary on a Walmart earnings call with analysts showed that the grocery segment saw price rollbacks, which helped the category’s growth outperform others. Company earnings materials indicated that comparable sales in grocery were up mid-single-digit percentage points, as measured year over year.

• Separate PYMNTS Intelligence research shows that 88% of U.S. grocery shoppers prefer in-person store visits over online options, underscoring how shoppers are attached to the in-store experience, even as digital retail grows across other sectors.
• Walmart’s 21% share of grocery spend is reinforced by its massive physical footprint, providing near-universal proximity and strong curbside pickup programs that dominate online grocery orders.
• Debit cards were used for 41% of grocery payments in stores, the leading method, highlighting that shoppers choose disciplined payment practices when they are standing at the register, particularly as economic uncertainty drives attention to budgeting.

Walmart’s physical store network is pivotal in why it remains the top grocery destination. Its reach and low-cost perishables give the supercenter chain an edge. Even as Amazon fine-tunes urban-centric delivery and premium strategies, most shoppers reach for groceries where aisle browsing and immediate fulfillment are possible.

PYMNTS Intelligence finds that Walmart’s strategy hinges on the need-it-now nature of perishables, fast curbside options and omnipresent stores to keep impulse buys and same-day fulfillment simple.

Amazon’s delivery and assortment gains have edged up its market share only fractionally.

For the bulk of American households, groceries remain an inherently physical market, one not easily disrupted.

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