--- title: "Grocery Delivery Apps Are Becoming the Shelf. Who Sets the Terms?" standfirst: "In the US the shift to delivery apps is clear and DoorDash-Instacart would own most of it; Europe has three platform groups and no measured switch yet." url: https://www.motionandgain.com/insights/grocery-delivery-apps-shelf type: "Consultant Article" publisher: "Motion & Gain" author: "Motion&Gain" published: 2026-11-03 updated: 2026-11-03 tags: ["D2C & eCommerce", "Retail media", "Omnichannel", "Commercial AI", "Consumer goods"] summary: "US grocery growth has moved to delivery apps; in Europe the switch is not yet visible. Why brands should run each app as a key account before 2027 terms." hero_image: https://wcokbflnhololtfdocak.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/article-images/ai/2026-11/grocery-delivery-apps-shelf-da61a4b0.webp hero_image_ai_generated: true access: public language: en --- # Grocery Delivery Apps Are Becoming the Shelf. Who Sets the Terms? *In the US the shift to delivery apps is clear and DoorDash-Instacart would own most of it; Europe has three platform groups and no measured switch yet.* Consultant Article · Motion&Gain · 3 November 2026 Hero image: AI-generated illustration (labelled "AI GENERATED" on the page). In the United States, grocery delivery apps have already become the shelf where growth happens, and DoorDash's agreed purchase of Instacart would leave that shelf with two owners who sell ranking, measurement and reach as one product. In Europe, the switch has not yet shown up in the official data, and three platform groups, not two, are building the shelf. Brands buying them as media negotiate from the wrong desk. **Key takeaways** - US: online food and beverage sales rose 15.5% while in-store sales fell 2.8% in the four weeks to 4 October 2026 (Circana); DoorDash and Instacart together hold about 77% of US delivery-app spend, restaurant and grocery combined (Consumer Edge estimates, Q3 2026). - Europe, not yet: from 2022 to 2024 the share of EU residents buying food and drink from stores online rose from 9.7% to 11.0%, while restaurant delivery rose from 17.0% to 19.8%, so the gap widened (Eurostat). Three platform groups compete there: DoorDash with Wolt and Deliveroo, Uber with Delivery Hero if its offer succeeds, and Prosus with Just Eat Takeaway. - The shelf is for sale: Instacart's advertising and other revenue reached $331 million in Q3 2026, 30% of its revenue, up 23% against 15% growth in order value. ## Where is grocery growth coming from in 2026? In the US, grocery growth comes from screens while store sales shrink, and two independent measures agree. Online food and beverage sales rose 15.5% year on year in the four weeks to 4 October 2026 and store sales fell 2.8%, according to [Circana data reported by Grocery Dive](https://www.grocerydive.com/news/food-beverage-sales-ecommerce-physical-stores-grocery-supermarkets/873303/). The household survey behind the [Brick Meets Click August 2026 report](https://www.brickmeetsclick.com/insights/august-2026-egrocery-sales-up-nearly-25-year-over-year) measures something different, total eGrocery including pickup and ship-to-home, and lands in the same place: online up 24.9%, total grocery spending up only 0.7%, in-store spending down an estimated 4.1%. **Chart: US grocery growth has moved online while store sales shrink** (Sales growth year on year, %, US: Circana, 4 weeks to 4 Oct 2026; Brick Meets Click, Aug 2026) ![Grouped bar chart: in the US, online grocery sales grew 15.5% (Circana, four weeks to 4 October 2026) and 24.9% (Brick Meets Click, August 2026) year on year, while in-store sales fell 2.8% and 4.1%.](https://www.motionandgain.com/charts/8b2427e71259b56871c1-w.svg) *Source: [Circana via Grocery Dive, Oct 2026; Brick Meets Click, Sep 2026](https://www.grocerydive.com/news/food-beverage-sales-ecommerce-physical-stores-grocery-supermarkets/873303/). Two independent measures with different definitions and periods: compare online with in-store within each source, not across sources. Circana: food and beverage sales by channel. Brick Meets Click: household survey, eGrocery incl. delivery, pickup and ship-to-home; total grocery +0.7%. [Data (CSV)](https://www.motionandgain.com/charts/8b2427e71259b56871c1.csv) · Chart: Motion & Gain* DoorDash told investors in its [Q3 2026 shareholder letter](https://s22.q4cdn.com/280253921/files/content_files/Q3-2026-Earnings-Press-Release.pdf) that order value in its US grocery and retail categories grew at more than double the pace of its US restaurant business. The same letter is candid about the product: "Grocery delivery is still early in its adoption." For a brand, the consequence is plain: the extra unit of US grocery demand in 2026 is sold on a screen the brand does not control. > **Quick commerce** is grocery and convenience delivery in under an hour, usually from dark stores: small closed warehouses near shoppers, run by the platform or a grocer. When the platform runs the dark store, it, not the grocer, decides which packs fill the shelf. ## Is Europe's restaurant-app audience switching to grocery? Not yet, on the official numbers. If people who order dinner through an app were moving their grocery shop there too, online grocery reach would grow faster than restaurant delivery and the gap between them would close. [Eurostat's survey of internet purchases](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/isoc_ec_ibgs/default/table) shows the opposite. Across the EU-27, the share of people aged 16-74 who bought food and drink from stores online in a three-month period rose from 9.7% in 2022 to 11.0% in 2024; the share who ordered restaurant delivery rose from 17.0% to 19.8%. The survey counts people, not spend, and it cannot tell a delivery app from a grocer's own website. **Chart: Restaurant delivery is pulling further ahead of online grocery in Europe** (Gap in reach: restaurant delivery minus food and drink from stores, pp of people 16-74, 2022 vs 2024) ![Dumbbell chart: from 2022 to 2024 the gap between the share of people ordering restaurant delivery online and the share buying food and drink from stores online widened from 7.3 to 8.8 percentage points in the EU-27, and widened in Germany, Türkiye, Spain, Poland and Italy; only France narrowed, to 0.6 points.](https://www.motionandgain.com/charts/83cb4bd613d77f3f26d5-w.svg) *Source: [Eurostat, Internet purchases (isoc\_ec\_ibgs), 2024; M&G analysis](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/isoc_ec_ibgs/default/table). Bought online in the last 3 months. EU-27: restaurant delivery 17.0% to 19.8%, food and drink from stores 9.7% to 11.0%. Reach, not spend; apps and grocers' sites not separated. Netherlands left out for scale (gap 21.4 to 21.5 pp). 2024 is the latest year. [Data (CSV)](https://www.motionandgain.com/charts/83cb4bd613d77f3f26d5.csv) · Chart: Motion & Gain* The gap grew from 7.3 to 8.8 percentage points in the EU-27, and it widened in every market shown except France. In Germany, online grocery reach rose 2.7 points to 11.7% while restaurant delivery rose 7.7 points to 23.8%. Motion & Gain's view, and it is a view rather than a finding: the restaurant app remains the likelier route for Europe's next wave of online grocery, because it already reaches almost twice as many people. The 2024 data say that conversion has not started at scale. The platforms' own grocery lines are growing fast from a small base. Delivery Hero, the Berlin-based owner of Glovo and foodora, reported in its [Q3 2026 trading update](https://ir.deliveryhero.com/news/delivery-hero-hits-one-billion-orders-in-q3-as-growth-accelerates-further-raises-full-year-guidance/570346a6-5fee-4330-b7e1-b5a40b8b9d4c) that quick commerce made up 19% of group order value and grew 39% like for like; it runs about 900 of its own dark stores. Its European order value, across all verticals, rose 10% in reported currency, from EUR 2,345m to EUR 2,587m (Delivery Hero Q3 KPI table, M&G calculation), while EU-27 food retail turnover grew 1.6% in July and 1.7% in August 2026 ([Eurostat](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sts_trtu_m/default/table)). Those are different measures, so read the direction, not the multiple. Wolt, DoorDash's European app, says the value of grocery orders on its platform grew 46% in 2025, [according to Wolt](https://press.wolt.com/en-WW/270166-230-million-orders-new-report-shows-the-rise-of-on-demand-retail-across-europe/). ## Who will own the grocery delivery shelf? In the US, two groups. On 29 October 2026 [DoorDash agreed to buy Instacart](https://about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doordash-to-acquire-instacart) for $65 a share, an equity value of about $17 billion, with closing expected at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028, subject to an Instacart shareholder vote and approval under US (Hart-Scott-Rodino), Canadian and Israeli rules. Consumer Edge estimates of US delivery-app spend, restaurant and grocery combined, put DoorDash at 59%, Instacart at about 18% and Uber Eats at about 18% in Q3 2026, as reported by [FoodNavigator](https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/10/30/doordashs-instacart-deal-cpg-reach-and-antitrust-concerns/) and [Modern Retail](https://www.modernretail.co/operations/what-doordashs-proposed-acquisition-of-instacart-means-for-uber-amazon-and-the-rest-of-the-quick-commerce-space/). Walmart and Amazon sell groceries online too, so this is the app shelf, not all of US online grocery. DoorDash has added one nuance that matters to every key account manager: a post-close commitment to "Open Platform, No Grocery Exclusivity", so grocers can keep working with any delivery app. The owner sets the ranking; it has promised not to lock up the grocer. In Europe, three groups. DoorDash already owns Wolt (bought in 2022) and Deliveroo (2025), as [IGD notes](https://www.igd.com/articles/doordashs-instacart-deal-could-redraw-the-grocery-ecommerce-landscape/74480). Uber's EUR 41.50-a-share cash offer for Delivery Hero would add Glovo, foodora and efood to Uber Eats if it succeeds: the [initial acceptance period](https://investor.uber.com/news-events/news/press-release-details/2026/Uber-Publishes-Offer-Document-for-its-Takeover-Offer-for-Delivery-Hero/default.aspx) ends at midnight on 5 November 2026, Frankfurt time, and an additional period from 11 to 24 November is expected, according to [Delivery Hero's Q3 slides](https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/delivery-hero-q3-2026-slides-growth-accelerates-guidance-raised-93CH-4979592). The outcome is not known at the time of writing, and closing is expected only in the second half of 2027. The third group is Prosus, owner of Just Eat Takeaway, whose worldwide orders returned to growth in September 2026 (+0.1%) after 55 months of decline ([Hargreaves Lansdown, citing Prosus](https://www.hl.co.uk/news/just-eat-takeaway-orders-return-to-growth-after-nearly-five-years)). European regulators have acted in this market before. The European Commission cleared Prosus's EUR 4.1bn takeover of Just Eat Takeaway in August 2025 only after Prosus agreed to cut its Delivery Hero stake to a very low level, [Euronews reported](https://www.euronews.com/2025/08/11/eu-clears-41bn-just-eat-takeover-but-prevents-food-delivery-mega-merger). Grocers also multi-home: REWE launched express delivery with Wolt in Cologne in September 2026 and uses other apps elsewhere in Germany ([Wolt](https://press.wolt.com/en-WW/270890-german-supermarket-chain-rewe-launches-on-wolt/)). Fewer, larger owners, then, not two. ## Why advertising is the real prize for delivery apps The platforms earn their best margins selling attention. Instacart's [Q3 2026 results](https://s25.q4cdn.com/251036341/files/doc_financials/2026/q3/CART-Q3-26-Earnings-Results-and-DoorDash-Acquisition-Press-Release.pdf) put advertising and other revenue at $331 million, up 23%, against 14.8% growth in order value (GTV; Instacart reports 15%) to $10.5 billion. It is the only platform reviewed that reports advertising separately. **30%**: of Instacart's Q3 2026 revenue came from advertising and other revenue: $331 million, up 23% on a year earlier (Instacart, October 2026) **Chart: Instacart's advertising line grew faster than the value of orders it carried** (Year-on-year growth, %, Instacart (US and Canada), Q3 2026) ![Bar chart: at Instacart in Q3 2026, advertising and other revenue grew 23.0% year on year, against 14.8% for gross transaction value; of the platforms reviewed, only Instacart discloses advertising revenue.](https://www.motionandgain.com/charts/8628d15d13a3bef612c6-w.svg) *Source: [Instacart (Maplebear Inc.), Q3 2026 results, Oct 2026; M&G analysis](https://s25.q4cdn.com/251036341/files/doc_financials/2026/q3/CART-Q3-26-Earnings-Results-and-DoorDash-Acquisition-Press-Release.pdf). One company's disclosure: DoorDash, Delivery Hero, Wolt, Deliveroo and Glovo do not disclose advertising revenue separately. Advertising and other revenue USD 331m, 30% of revenue. GTV USD 9,170m to 10,528m (M&G calculation; reported +15%). [Data (CSV)](https://www.motionandgain.com/charts/8628d15d13a3bef612c6.csv) · Chart: Motion & Gain* Alex Frederick, senior foodtech analyst at PitchBook, [told FoodNavigator](https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2026/10/30/doordashs-instacart-deal-cpg-reach-and-antitrust-concerns/): "If the deal clears, advertising may matter more to the investment case than delivery fees." Europe is building the same machine. On 21 October 2026 Wolt and Deliveroo launched one set of ad tools across both apps in nearly 40 countries, and say that over 80% of eligible EMEA campaigns in the first half of 2026 could be linked to a purchase within seven days, [according to Wolt and Deliveroo](https://press.wolt.com/en-WW/273507-wolt-and-deliveroo-ads-unveil-new-set-of-advertising-tools-for-nearly-40-countries/). Glovo presented four new in-app ad formats for brands in May 2026 ([Retail Focus](https://retail-focus.co.uk/huge-growth-potential-awaits-brands-as-glovo-sets-out-its-retail-media-vision/)). Three things follow for brands. Reach and proof merge: one owner can show an ad in a restaurant app and see the grocery basket in another, as Gartner's Greg Carlucci [told Modern Retail](https://www.modernretail.co/operations/what-doordashs-proposed-acquisition-of-instacart-means-for-uber-amazon-and-the-rest-of-the-quick-commerce-space/). The platform grades its own homework, because the company that sells the ad also reports the sale. And the algorithm sets the shelf: search ranking, substitutions when an item is missing and the advertising and AI tools both companies say they have built decide which brand a shopper sees, running on the brand's product data, stock and bids. > On a delivery app, the shelf is a ranking, and the ranking has an owner. ## What should commercial leaders decide now? Run each delivery platform as a key account, not a media buy. The decision is who owns the relationship and on which numbers it is judged, across range, availability, content, terms and media. We argued for one accountable owner in [AI Visibility Is the New Shelf Space](https://www.motionandgain.com/insights/ai-visibility-brand-share-of-ai-answers) and in [our piece on AI shopping agents](https://www.motionandgain.com/insights/what-to-sell-ai-shopping-agents): platforms set the default unless the brand decides first. 1. **Name one platform owner per market (chief commercial officer, 30 days).** One leader holds the account for each app group: listings, content, availability, retail media and trade terms together, with one joint business plan per platform. 2. **Build a dark-store range (category and supply chain heads, 60 days).** A dark store carries a fraction of a supermarket's range; decide which packs and sizes earn a place and keep them in stock, because a missing item hands the substitution to a rival. 3. **Watch the ranking daily (eCommerce and data teams, 90 days).** The platform's models read product data, stock feeds and bids all the time; a monthly spreadsheet cannot answer them. Use your own models to flag rank, availability and content gaps by app and dark store, and route fixes every day. 4. **Keep platform media, trade terms and the data to check them with that same owner.** In the Motion & Gain [commercial value chain](https://www.motionandgain.com/ai-transformation#framework), this sits in Corridor 2, Boost Consumer Engagement Effectiveness: a seamless purchase journey (O10), conversion (O12) and reaching untapped audiences (O7), with trade terms in Corridor 3. ## The bottom line In the US, the delivery-app shelf is settling into two owners that sell ranking, measurement and reach as one product. In Europe, the same platforms are building the shelf and a single ad stack quickly, but shoppers have not yet moved their grocery spend at scale and three groups still compete. That is the window. Brands that organise each platform as a key account before the 2027 terms are signed will negotiate with their own data. Brands that keep buying it line by line will rent their shelf from the people who grade it. ## Questions leaders ask ### What does the DoorDash acquisition of Instacart mean for consumer brands? DoorDash agreed on 29 October 2026 to buy Instacart for about $17 billion, with closing expected at the end of 2027 or in the first half of 2028. Together the two hold about 77% of US delivery-app spend, restaurant and grocery combined, on Consumer Edge estimates. For brands, that puts restaurant and grocery audiences and two ad businesses under one owner. Grocers keep their choice of apps under DoorDash's no-exclusivity commitment, but one company would set the ranking shoppers see. ### Is grocery delivery growing in Europe? The platforms' grocery lines are growing; the audience shift is not yet visible. Delivery Hero's quick commerce grew 39% like for like in Q3 2026. But Eurostat data show that from 2022 to 2024 the share of EU residents buying food and drink from stores online rose from 9.7% to 11.0%, more slowly than restaurant delivery, which rose from 17.0% to 19.8%. ### Does Uber's offer for Delivery Hero change anything for brands yet? Not yet. The initial acceptance period of Uber's EUR 41.50-a-share cash offer ends at midnight on 5 November 2026, Frankfurt time, an additional period from 11 to 24 November is expected, and closing would follow in the second half of 2027 if merger control allows. If the offer succeeds, Europe would have three large platform groups: DoorDash with Wolt and Deliveroo, Uber with Delivery Hero's brands, and Prosus with Just Eat Takeaway. --- Source: https://www.motionandgain.com/insights/grocery-delivery-apps-shelf Cite as: Motion & Gain, "Grocery Delivery Apps Are Becoming the Shelf. Who Sets the Terms?", 3 November 2026, https://www.motionandgain.com/insights/grocery-delivery-apps-shelf Editorial standards: https://www.motionandgain.com/insights/editorial-standards