ARLINGTON, VA — May 14, 2009 — American consumers are changing their food shopping behavior and focusing on price and value at the supermarket, according to the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) 2009 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report released today.

“Shoppers in every income bracket are facing budgetary pressures, and they are making different choices when it comes to the foods they purchase,” said Leslie G. Sarasin, FMI president and chief executive officer. “The recession is affecting shopper decision making in ways that may endure. Retailers are challenged with a great opportunity to win over shoppers with money-saving ideas that appeal to their customers.”

Consumers Adopting New Behavior to Save on Food

Shoppers are economizing when it comes to food purchases. Trends identified three stages of consumer behavior:

• Stage One — Shoppers save money on eating out by switching from fine dining to fast food. They also seek supermarket meal solutions in place of restaurant fare.


• Stage Two — Consumers change their saving measures in the store by buying more private brands, using coupons, buying basic ingredients and shopping with a plan.


• Stage Three — Shoppers switch store formats and choose supercenters, warehouse clubs and limited assortment stores.

A majority of consumers (69 percent) say they are eating out less. An additional 50 percent are eating out at less expensive places.

When deciding how to save money on their grocery bill, consumers are making plans before heading to the supermarket, resulting in fewer impulse purchases. In fact, 53 percent say they make a shopping list, 40 percent search newspaper or advertising inserts, and 35 percent report they look for coupons in the mail, newspapers and magazines.

The effort to save money continues once they are in the store. The popularity of private brands continues to grow with 97 percent of shoppers saying they plan to purchase the same amount of private brands or more during the next year. (See Figure 1.)

(FMI will host a Private Brands Summit to bring industry leaders together to address strategic opportunities in private brands. It will be held this June 14-16 in New York.)

Retailers understand the importance of marketing private brand products. Some stores are conducting in-store comparison tests to measure shoppers’ preference for store brands versus national brand alternatives. Words associated with private products in the minds of consumers include “quality,” “value,” “cheaper” and “inexpensive.” Shoppers view private brands as a value-added offering in tough economic times. (See Figure 2.)

Price and Value Are Important to Shoppers

“Shoppers are focused on finding the best prices for the food they purchase,” said Sarasin. “It is the number one reason consumers pick which stores they shop at to stock up and which ones they choose for fill-in trips.”

Full-service supermarkets were identified by 56 percent of shoppers as their primary store, down from 60 percent last year. Customers are loyal to their primary store with only 6 percent saying they switched stores to save money on groceries, but when it comes to making a secondary trip, 42 percent of shoppers occasionally shop at other stores such as supercenters and warehouse stores to take advantage of specials. Supercenters have 27 percent of the market share when it comes to grocery shopping and are steadily increasing their share from 22 percent in 2005.

   Most shoppers say they frequent a full-service supermarket either fairly often (31 percent) or almost every time (44 percent). Supercenters are the second most popular format, visited regularly by 39 percent of consumers.

     The most price-sensitive shoppers report making more frequent trips to the store (2.3 weekly visits versus the average of 2.0 trips) to take advantage of the specials offered at different retail formats.

More than three-quarters of shoppers (76 percent) almost always check the price of a product before they decide to purchase it for the first time.

Consumers spend an average of $98.40 weekly on groceries, up slightly from $97.80 in 2008. However, this increase is offset by the 5.7 percent food-at-home inflation rate.

Advantages of Eating at Home — Healthier Meals and Costs Less

“The recession has brought consumers home — 55 percent say they are preparing more meals at home than last year,” said Sarasin. “Preparing meals at home is the best way to control food costs and ensure healthy eating.”

Consumers say they are concerned about the nutritional content of their food, and 92 percent say they eat healthier when dining at home. (See Figure 3.)

Shoppers admit the foods they eat at home could be healthier (57 percent), but they believe food prepared at home is better for them. Nearly three-quarters of consumers say food they consume away from home could be somewhat (48 percent) or a lot (24 percent) healthier.

Consumers seek time-saving, affordable and healthy choices for mealtime. They are most interested in:

• Easy-to-make recipes (48 percent).


• Recipes for cooking a meal for $10 or less (44 percent).