U.S. grocery e-commerce sales were up 2.4% in December compared with the same month last year, to $9.1 billion, driven by more households buying groceries online that month and a small uptick in average order values, according to survey data released by Brick Meets Click and Mercatus. Pickup had a solid performance in December across several metrics and was the only fulfillment method to gain sales in December. Pickup represented approximately 48% of total online grocery spending last month — up a percentage point from the prior month, while delivery and ship-to-home accounted for roughly 35% and 16%, respectively. While December saw a rebound in grocery e-commerce, the findings indicate mass merchants are quickly gaining competitive advantages over supermarkets among online shoppers.