Grocery Wholesaling in the US - Market Size, Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecasts (2024-2029)

To the market: Rising demand for specialized goods will likely lead smaller companies to carve out niche markets, supporting industry growth

The Grocery Wholesaling industry acts as the middleman between food producers and retailers. Improving per capita disposable income has enabled consumers to trade up to more expensive options at grocery stores or switch to dining out. Grocery wholesalers benefit either way as they distribute products to both markets. As a result, industry revenue increased at a CAGR of 1.1% to $275.1 billion over the past five years, including a 0.6% increase in 2023 alone. However, the increasing trend of eliminating the middleman has pressured revenue growth during the period. Furthermore, elevated inflation and increasing fears of an upcoming recession caused industry revenue to decrease in 2022.

Grocery wholesalers act as the middlemen between food producers and retailers. They do little to transform products and are intermediaries in merchandise distribution. Wholesalers sell and distribute all general-line grocery products, and industry establishments generally are not specialized. Distributed products usually include dry groceries, perishable food and nonfood products found in grocery stores.

This report covers the scope, size, disposition and growth of the industry including the key sensitivities and success factors. Also included are five year industry forecasts, growth rates and an analysis of the industry key players and their market shares.