Monthly retail sales of grocery and convenience retailers in Canada 2017-2023

Monthly sales of grocery and convenience retailers in Canada hit a high of 10.33 billion Canadian dollars in March 2020, an increase of over two billion compared to the previous month. The spread of coronavirus in early March 2020 and consequent panic buying can explain this jump in sales. By November 2023, grocery store sales amounted to around 9.4 billion Canadian dollars.

Canadian in-store and online shopping

As of December 2022, there were nearly 16,000 grocery stores located across Canada, signaling an ongoing demand for brick-and-mortar grocery stores, despite the rise of e-commerce in the Canadian retail sector. According to a recent survey, nearly 90 percent of surveyed Canadians stated that they spend more on groceries bought in-store than online. Nevertheless, many Canadian shoppers had bought groceries online for the first time in 2020, mainly because of concerns about the coronavirus and the fact that it was convenient to do so.

Leading grocery retailers

In the 2019/20 fiscal year, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. was the leading food retailer in Canada, with a grocery sales value of around 50.31 billion Canadian dollars. Sobeys Inc. and Metro Inc. ranked second and third, with sales of approximately 25.14 and 11.79 billion Canadian dollars, respectively.