A conversation with Daniel Fyles,
Head of Growth at Myfoodlink
Online grocery and liquor retail in Australia is growing at a pace that is hard to ignore. Online grocery sales are expected to reach $11.8 billion in 2025–26, a 5.7% five-year compound annual growth rate. Online beer, wine and liquor sales are tracking toward $2.2 billion in 2024–25. Food delivery platforms add a further $1.8 billion in annual revenue. We sat down with Daniel, Head of Growth at Myfoodlink, to understand what this means for independent retailers and what it takes to build a store that performs online.
The market
Coles and Woolworths are both reporting strong online growth. What does that mean for independent retailers?
Online is now their fastest-growing division. Coles grew 25.7% in the 12 months to March 2025. Woolworths grew around 16% over the same period. Online now represents 11.3% of Coles's total grocery sales and 14.1% of Woolworths's, and both figures are still moving up.
The more telling number is what they are doing operationally. Woolworths rolled out sub-60-minute click and collect to 493 stores, with 153 of those added in Q3 2025 alone. When that is available down the road from your store, it becomes the reference point. Independents need a clear answer to it.
Marketing your online store
Who should retailers be trying to reach when they go online?
Most retailers assume online requires a completely different audience. It does not. The people most likely to order from your store online are the same people already coming in. They know your range, they trust your store, and they just need to know the option is there.
Start in-store
Fliers at the register, posters in the window, shelf talkers, and bag inserts reach customers at the moment they are most engaged with your store.
Make it visible outside
Window takeovers and external signage tell passing customers that your store is available online and on the platforms they already use.
Keep it simple
One clear message: your store is online, orders are easy, and delivery is available. A regular in-store customer needs one prompt to become a regular online one.
Talk to your existing customers
Your email list is a direct line to customers who already know your store. Use it consistently. Weekly specials, new arrivals, or a simple reminder that online ordering is available will drive repeat orders over time.
Demand channels
How are customers choosing to shop online?
Two demand patterns are running at the same time, and retailers need to serve both.
Planning ahead
A full weekly shop via your own website or app, with scheduled delivery or click and collect. High value and repeatable. Where customer loyalty is built.
Last-minute top-up
A customer who needs something now, via courier from your store or through a marketplace like Uber Eats or DoorDash. Driven by urgency rather than planning.
The retailers seeing the strongest growth are running both. Your own store handles the planned shop. Marketplaces pick up the orders that need to arrive quickly. If you are only doing one, you are only reaching part of your potential customer base.
Customer spotlight
ILG — Independent Liquor Group
ILG connected their Myfoodlink stores across every major marketplace and on-demand courier platform. The same catalogue, the same operation — available wherever their customers already were. Marketplace channels now drive the large majority of their weekly online revenue, growing consistently year on year.
Active on
What separates retailers who grow online
IBISWorld identified four success factors for this category. How do they play out in practice?
"The stores seeing the biggest improvements are the ones that treat their technology as part of daily operations, not something bolted on."
On Myfoodlink
- New picking app — 25% efficiency gain
- Push notifications via shopping app
- GS1 product data integration
- Automated product data layer
"The same customer will have different needs at different times in their week. Scheduled delivery, 1h (on-demand) courier or click and collect. If you only offer one, you are turning away everyone who needs something different."
On Myfoodlink
- Courier integrations
- Uber Direct and DoorDash Drive
- Click & collect
- Scheduled delivery
"Out-of-stocks and substitutions damage repeat order rates. A customer who receives a substitution they did not want rarely places a second order."
On Myfoodlink
- Reduce out-of-stocks and substitutions via live POS sync
- Automated catalogue updates
"In liquor especially, customers check prices across a few options before they order. You do not have to be the cheapest, but you cannot be noticeably out of range."
On Myfoodlink
- Price level engine
- Multi-channel pricing rules
- Promotional pricing tools
Myfoodlink growth
What are you seeing across the Myfoodlink network?
81%
Growth across marketplace and ecommerce channels, 12 months to March 2026
$300M–$400M
Expected Gross Merchant Value (GMV) across all channels in the coming 12 months
That growth is not coming from a small number of large accounts. It is coming from independent grocery stores and bottle shops that have the right setup: accurate catalogues, a flexible, shopper-friendly mix of delivery options and presence on the channels where their customers already shop.
Getting started
For a retailer not yet online (or not seeing the results they hoped for) where do you start?
Get the basics right before anything else. A product catalogue that stays in sync with your POS, a picking process your staff can run without disrupting the physical store and at least one on-demand delivery option beyond in-store collection. For liquor retailers, getting onto the marketplaces early matters. A large share of last-minute liquor orders come through those channels.
Remember that getting your online service technically configured only gets you to the start line. Shoppers will not stumble across your 1h delivery option, they need to be told about it.
The retailers I would back to still be growing in three years are the ones who have made someone in the business accountable for owning and marketing the online channel. Not as a side project — as a core part of how the store operates.
Remember that getting your online service technically configured only gets you to the start line. Shoppers will not stumble across your one-hour delivery option. They need to be told about it. Fliers at the register, posters in the window, and a regular email to your customer list are often all it takes to turn in-store customers into regular online ones.
Already on Myfoodlink?
If your store is already live, what should you be looking at next?
Being live is the starting point, not the finish line. Most stores on the platform have features available to them that they have not yet switched on. The ones growing fastest are the ones that keep adding channels, keep improving their operation, and make sure their customers actually know what is available.
On-demand courier delivery
Connect to our courier integrations and fulfil orders within the hour. No fleet to manage — a driver is dispatched automatically when an order comes in.
Learn moreMarketplace connections
Get your store in front of customers already on Uber Eats, DoorDash and other platforms. Managed directly through Myfoodlink.
Learn morePicking app
Switch your team to the Myfoodlink picking app. Stores that have made the move are seeing a 25% improvement in picking efficiency.
Learn moreGoogle Merchant integration
Automatically send your product catalogue to Google Merchant so your products appear in Google Shopping results and reach customers actively searching.
Learn more