As the sizzle of the great Covid BBQ bubble starts to slow, there’s still one pandemic trend that’s not fading away; online grocery shopping. Hungry Kiwis added 14% more to their online shopping trollies in the second quarter of this year and with new entrants like Auckland based online supermarket Supie and wholesaler Costco (COST) about to launch, this food fight might be about get more bloody than Lady Gaga’s meat dress. 🥩

The action is getting spicy in the US too. 🌶️ Walmart (WMT) is the biggest food retailer in the US ahead of Amazon (AMZN) and they’d really like to keep it that way. Walmart says they’ve been gaining market share of the groceries game, but their membership program Walmart+ is starving for new customers. Now the Blue Giant probably hopes they’ve added the cherry on top against rival Amazon. 

Both Walmart+ and Amazon Prime are subscription services designed around at-home delivery, but Amazon Prime also comes with features like discounts and video and music streaming. So Walmart is sweetening their own program by adding a dash of cash and garnishing it with streaming by teaming up with Paramount’s ‘plus’ service (PARAA, PARA). Sure, the Paramount+ line up looks like something you’d find in a cheap motel room while travelling with your parents, but the extra zest might just be good enough to help get the juices flowing again on Walmart’s bland membership numbers. 🍋

Is Amazon salty? 🧂 The company may still be flavour of the month in longer-life goods, but they’ve struggled to get people salivating with their mainstream grocery offering. After buying Whole Foods in 2017 for US$13.7 billion and setting up their ‘Amazon Fresh’ stores, it looked like Amazon might’ve had it in the bag. But with just 41 Amazon Fresh locations in the US compared to Walmart’s 4,735, Amazon’s still fighting for a seat at the table. 🍽️