Checking Out: 2026 Food Retail AlphaWise Survey

Research evidence excerpt

Checking Out: 2026 Food Retail AlphaWise Survey

Foundation

June 30, 2026 10:34 PM GMT

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLCMRetail, Food, and Internet | North America Simeon Gutman, CFA

Equity Analyst

Checking Out: 2026 Food Retail Simeon.Gutman@morganstanley.comBrian Nowak, CFA +1 212 761-3920

Brian.Nowak@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-3365

AlphaWise Survey Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc+

Izabel Dobreva

Online grocery penetration hits a record, inflation is a top Equity Analyst

Izabel.Dobreva@morganstanley.com +44 20 7677-5006

concern, and delivery/speed are emerging as a battleground

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC

amid broad-based channel strength in '26. Most positive for Pedro Gil, CFA

Mass and Club, while Conventional lags in pockets. WMT Equity Analyst

Pedro.Gil@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-2022

momentum is strong while AMZN trends are mixed. Zachary Abraham

Research Associate

Zach.Abraham@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-5977

Skylar TennantMWe surveyed ~3,000 grocery shoppers in May-June 2026 for our annual Food

Retail AlphaWise Survey. Our top 12 takeaways: Skylar.Tennant1@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-9963

Kavya A Narayanan

1. WMT's momentum is driving share gains. 64% of all US grocery shoppers shop Research Associate

at Walmart, which is ~2x the next most popular retailers (Dollar Stores at 33% and Kavya.Narayanan@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-4183

Katie Solovieva

Kroger at 30%), and represents a ~660 bps increase y/y. This leadership extends Data Analyst

online, where 61% of online grocery shoppers shop at Walmart (+920 bps y/y). 31% Katie.Solovieva@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-6753

Erica Crouser

of grocery shoppers name WMT as their most-frequented retailer (+180 bps y/y),

Data Analyst