2025 Digital Grocery Sales: What’s Driving Success and the Key Role of Walmart, Amazon, and Instacart

If 2020 was the tipping point for digital grocery, 2025 is the year it became mandatory.

Food and beverage brands are no longer dabbling in digital—they’re doubling down. And in this evolved landscape, three platforms have emerged as the power players rewriting the rules of retail media: Walmart, Amazon, and Instacart.

The opportunity is massive. But so is the complexity.

Winning in today’s digital aisle isn’t about checking the “presence” box—it’s about engineering measurable, incremental revenue across both digital and physical shelves. Let’s break down what’s driving success in food & bev right now—and why these three platforms are holding the keys.

The Acceleration of Digital Grocery

The shift is real—and permanent. Nearly 1 in 4 grocery purchases in the U.S. now happen online. Consumers expect seamless convenience, dynamic promotions, and personalized recommendations whether they’re buying on their phone, in an app, or in-store.

That means brands can’t just show up—they need to show upstream, show smart, and show ROI.

And that’s where retail media becomes mission-critical.

Walmart Connect: Where Scale Meets Precision

With 150M+ weekly shoppers, Walmart isn’t just a retailer—it’s a retail media giant. Its first-party data and closed-loop measurement offer F&B brands a powerful blend of reach and accountability.

What winning looks like:

• Sponsored Search for category-level visibility (not just branded terms) to capture new-to-brand shoppers at the moment of intent
• Off-site and CTV campaigns using Walmart’s programmatic tools to reach grocery audiences beyond the .com
• Audience targeting based on purchase behavior, lifestyle signals, and geographic relevance

“Walmart’s off-site capabilities let us extend reach beyond the platform itself,” says Joy Commodore, Sr. Director of Strategy at Power Digital. “It’s not just about converting—it’s about owning the journey from discovery to decision.”

Amazon DSP: Programmatic Power with Grocery Intent

Amazon isn’t just the king of ecommerce—it’s entrenched in grocery thanks to Whole Foods, Fresh, and expansive DSP capabilities.

What sets Amazon apart is its unmatched shopper behavior data, which allows brands to reach high-intent consumers on and off Amazon.

Key moves for food & bev brands:

• Programmatic display that scales across Amazon-owned and third-party sites
• Audience targeting tied to Whole Foods and Fresh purchase behaviors
• Omnichannel activation—drive online sales and in-store lift through DSP media with clear incrementality models

“Amazon DSP lets us scale targeted awareness beyond just product pages,” says Commodore. “We use it to influence buyer decisions across the full path to purchase—even when final sales happen in-store.”

Instacart Ads: Owning the Cart and the Checkout

Instacart doesn’t own shelves—but it owns the digital cart. And for CPG and grocery brands, that’s where critical decisions happen.

Why it works:

• Featured Product Ads put your product where it matters most: top-of-search
• Shoppable Display Ads blend brand storytelling with real-time conversion
• Basket-level insights power cross-sell and upsell strategies with built-in margin awareness

What’s Actually Driving Success?

The brands winning in 2025 aren’t louder. They’re smarter. They treat each retail platform as its own performance engine, with strategy tailored to audience behavior, purchase patterns, and media economics.

Here’s what separates leaders from the pack:

1. Platform-Native Strategy

Retail media isn’t one-size-fits-all. Winning brands adapt messaging, bidding strategies, and KPIs to fit each platform’s ecosystem.

2. Full-Funnel Thinking—Where It Applies

While bottom-funnel tactics dominate grocery, top-of-funnel brand awareness through CTV and display is gaining ground, especially for launches or seasonal moments. Just don’t over-rely on retargeting where first-party data access is limited.

3. Creative Built for Context

You don’t pitch almond milk the same way on Amazon as you do on Instacart. Smart brands design for the shelf they’re selling on—testing headlines, images, and formats based on platform behavior.

4. Data-Driven Agility

Top performers optimize in real time, reallocating spend weekly based on ROAS, incrementality, and regional lift—not guesswork.

Pro Tip: Brands that track and optimize for new-to-brand customers—not just total sales—see stronger LTV and long-term revenue growth.

CMO Takeaway: Retail Media is Not Optional

In food & beverage, DTC isn’t the answer—it’s the exception. For most brands, less than 1% of revenue flows through direct channels. The real scale lies in retail partnerships, marketplaces, and shopper marketing—but only if you treat them as media ecosystems, not product catalogs.

Walmart, Amazon, and Instacart each offer high-leverage entry points—but none of them offer plug-and-play success. You need a strategy built for complexity, backed by real performance insight, and executed by people who know the space inside and out.

At Power Digital, we build retail media programs that aren’t just “set-and-spend”—they’re engineered to win. If you’re ready to turn complexity into competitive advantage, let’s talk.