Metro had another quarter of double-digit earnings growth, driven in part by a big increase in online food sales.

For Q2 of fiscal 2023, the grocer is reporting net earnings of $218.8 million, a 10% increase year-over-year. Total sales hit $4.6 billion, up 6.6% year-over-year.

Food same-store sales up 5.8%, while food basket inflation was 9.%, slightly lower than it was in Q1.

Metro also had an online food sales spike of 41% year over year, largely driven by new third-party marketplace partnership sales. In March, the company unveiled a new look for its delivery service, and in December expanded its partnership with third party delivery service Instacart.

Pharmacy same-store sales moved up 7.3%, with a 12.2% increase in front-store sales, led by OTC products, cosmetics and health.

In Wednesday morning’s earnings call, Eric La Flèche, president and CEO, said is delivering value in a high inflation environment and gaining market share, according to Nielsen tracking.

Discount is growing faster than conventional stores, which has become a “market reality,” La Flèche said. Though there is ebb and flow in terms of traffic breakdown between them, and Metro is “well-positioned” to cater to either format, the company believes that the long term trend favoring discount will continue.

Metro’s private label products, which has around 4,000 product SKUs, is growing at double the rate of sales, providing a lot of value to customers. “The quality and the innovation has improved a lot over five years,” La Flèche says.

Metro says SG&A was boosted 4.9% in the quarter, thanks to costs incurred from the launch of the new Metro&Moi loyalty program. La Flèche said promotional penetration was “very high” and adds that the grocer is looking forward to the expansion later this spring across Quebec banners.

Promotions as percentage of sales are slightly above pre-pandemic levels as because people are managing their budgets in this inflationary environment. Metro plans to offer more points collection and redemption opportunities, more engagement and personalization, helped by the addition of Jean Coutu to the loyalty program.

Price increase requests from brands came down, and Metro said that it is seeing “some moderation in food inflation,” although it is still elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels.