Click-and-collect grocery shopping will add up to that sum by 2020, when a quarter of U.S. shoppers will have used the format at least once, according to Cowen & Co., an investment bank. Walmart will offer pickup at 3,100 stores by the end of the fiscal year, and it could make up as much as 46 per cent of its sales growth. Amazon has two dedicated collection points in Seattle, and offers the service at Whole Foods Market locations in 22 U.S. cities. Meanwhile, the company will reportedly cut the prices of 500-plus items at Whole Foods this week. (Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal)

Talking point: Amazon’s convenience-based selling point for customers is cheap and fast delivery, and it’s building out a logistics network to control more of its shipping. But traditional retail chains have an advantage over e-commerce companies in click-and-collect: lots of existing locations for shoppers to pick up their groceries. Canada’s highly concentrated food retail market—Loblaw, Empire and Metro together have a 61 per cent share—might be better suited for pickup than delivery. Loblaw, for example, included free click-and-collect in its new $99 a year loyalty program, but not its Instacart-handled home drop-off option.