Leading Grocery Brands in Canada: Q1 2024 Insights

The grocery landscape in Canada is constantly evolving, with brands competing to capture the attention of consumers across digital platforms. In Q1 2024, Sensor Tower's comprehensive data highlights the performance of leading grocery brands: Save-On-Foods, PC Express, and SAQ (Societe des alcools du Quebec). This article delves into their digital presence, audience trends, and advertising strategies, offering a detailed view of their market positioning.

Save-On-Foods

Save-On-Foods is renowned for its wide selection of grocery items and customer-centric services. Its digital presence is robust, featuring its website, saveonfoods.com, and the Save-On-Foods app.

• Audience Trends: Throughout Q1 2024, saveonfoods.com maintained a stable web presence, with visits fluctuating between 2.1M and 2.8M monthly. The monthly true audience remained above 400K, with a notable balance between app and web-only visitors.

• App Engagement: The Save-On-Foods app experienced a slight decline in monthly active users, starting at approximately 230K in January and dropping to 215K by March, indicating a shift in user engagement.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Save-On-Foods' monthly advertising spend peaked in February at around $146K, leveraging platforms like Facebook and Instagram for broad reach, with impressions exceeding 39M.

PC Express

PC Express, known for its convenient online grocery shopping and pickup services, operates through its website, pcexpress.ca, and the PC Express app.

• Audience Trends: The website saw consistent performance with visits hovering around 900K monthly in January, decreasing slightly in February, and rebounding in March. Monthly true audience figures remained stable, exceeding 670K throughout the quarter.

• App Engagement: The app's monthly active user base remained steady, with numbers slightly above 570K, showcasing strong mobile engagement.

• Ad Spend & Channels: PC Express significantly increased its monthly ad spend in March to over $50K, with TikTok emerging as a key platform, delivering impressive engagement with over 12M impressions.

SAQ (Societe des alcools du Quebec)

SAQ is a leader in the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages in Quebec. Its digital footprint includes saq.com and the SAQ app.

• Audience Trends: SAQ saw a spike in website visits in March, reaching 2.4M, while maintaining a monthly true audience above 380K across the quarter.

• App Engagement: The app's monthly active users showed a gradual decline from 194K in January to 171K in March, suggesting shifts in user preferences.

• Ad Spend & Channels: SAQ's monthly ad spend remained modest, with Pinterest as a primary channel, achieving over 2M impressions in January.

Conclusion

In Q1 2024, Save-On-Foods, PC Express, and SAQ demonstrated strong digital strategies, each leveraging their unique platforms to engage with Canadian consumers. Sensor Tower's unparalleled data insights provide a comprehensive view of these brands' cross-platform performances, emphasizing the critical role of digital presence in the competitive grocery market.

Sensor Tower continues to deliver essential insights through its Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics, enabling brands to navigate and thrive in the digital landscape. These tools offer decision-makers unparalleled advantages in understanding and optimizing their market strategies.