Despite enduring significant challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing inflationary pressure, the food retail industry remains a prominent sector in Canada. The Canadian market encompasses food sold at food and beverage retailers, such as
, convenience stores, mass merchandisers, and specialty stores. In 2022,
in Canada amounted to more than 147 billion Canadian dollars. In that same year, the
were Loblaw Companies Ltd. with 29 percent market share, followed by Sobeys with 21 percent. Other leading food retailers were Costco Wholesale, Metro Inc., and Walmart Inc.
Food retail and key players
Of the nearly 28,000
food and beverage stores in Canada, over one third were in Ontario. Loblaw Companies Ltd.,
with over 2,400 stores nationwide, had the largest number of stores among grocery retailers in Canada and generated more than
39 billion Canadian dollars in food sales in 2022. Sobeys Inc. followed with
around 1,400 stores and
sales reaching just over 30 billion dollars in 2023. Revenues from Costco, Walmart, and Metro were not far behind with 33, 22, and 21 billion dollars, respectively.
Consumer purchasing behavior
In terms of
food expenditure, Canadians aged 14 to 18 appeared to spend the most, averaging about 4,080 Canadian dollars per year. Supermarkets were the
preferred channel when grocery shopping, but recently
discount stores have acquired the consumers’ interest especially due to rising food prices. In fact, price emerged as the
most important factor when choosing a grocery store .
Online trends in the food retail industry
E-commerce retail sales have grown steadily in recent years in Canada and are expected to continue their growth path. However, the
share of food and beverage sales in total Canadian e-retail sales still accounted for less than five percent of the market in 2023, though it is expected to see a slight increase in the coming years. Third-party grocery delivery services like Instacart emerged as the
favored channel for online grocery purchases, but leading retailers' online sites also remained a popular choice, as indicated by their
e-commerce net sales.
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