Our data also show a decline in the number of consumers undertaking big grocery shops. There are several implications. First, the number of grocery stores used has gone up, so spend is spread more thinly among more players. Second, the way in which consumers use stores has changed — fewer visits to the center aisle, more focus on quick meal fix areas like the deli counter, etc. This change is big and is one of the forces reshaping grocery.

This is also due to the consumer interest in fresh. You don’t buy a month’s worth of fresh corn like you could have purchased a month of frozen corn like our parents. This is part of the reason the middle of grocery stores are dying — fewer people want provisions; they want fresh food.

Again, generalizations don’t work here. The answers depend on product categories. Bob Phibbs is right. If you want fresh you shop daily (like my mother did). The Costcos of the world have made it easier to stock up on dry goods and packaged goods and save money in the process, if you can front the money and have the space to store the products. Judging from the sales reports and other articles, both trends are in motion; multiple trips of short duration for fresh products, fewer trips of larger value for packaged goods.

I’m hoping you all realize that this is a global study, not a U.S. study. This may have nothing to do with U.S. shopping patterns changing. The clue — there is no way that 70 percent of U.S. shopping trips are at small stores.

It’s tough to generalize without understanding the “benefit segmentation” of the shopper. Is the customer shopping for a large family, where a stock-up run to Kroger or buying bulk quantities at Costco makes practical and economic sense? Or is the grocer targeting a smaller household (downsizing Boomer, or Millennial in an apartment) where there simply isn’t enough room to stock up? Does the shopper live in the suburbs and drive an SUV, or is she an urban dweller with easy access to home delivery?

You get my point — although if there is a common thread that may drive more frequent and smaller trips, it’s the desire for more fresh product and the parallel desire to reduce waste.

There is no debate that people are busy and value their time – and it seems like this is amplified every year. Stores recognize this and are catering to customer needs with services and stores that make shopping easier and faster – smaller stores, meal kits, prepared meals, online ordering, curb-side pickup, home delivery, and the list goes on.

There are some shoppers that continue to have the stock-up shopping trips, as there are many things they buy repeatedly every week or month. Retailers need to make the process easier for reoccurring shopping trips and offer incentives for them to buy these items from their store. Maybe a special discount for purchasing X of the same item in a specific time period.

Over recent weeks these columns have been full of grocery retailers improving their online offering and today we see that latest, and possibly most significant, move of online retailers opening stores. People are becoming ever-more savvy in the way they shop, whether it be Millennials or the Grey Dollar. All consumers are mixing and matching their shopping habits to suit their lifestyle. Most people today do not bulk buy as convenience has taken over as the prime driver. That convenience could come from online and home delivery or click and collect, or it could come from community stores. What is becoming ever more apparent is that to be successful a retailer needs to cover these forms of shopping behavior in its strategy. This is difficult for the clubs, which built their business on major shopping trips. There may be some comfort, however, as Walmart posted great results last week and a major part of their improvement came down to price. This is still a major driver and whatever other strategy and channel you operate you… Read more »

Prophetically, for some years now Herb Sorensen and a few others have advocated that the dimension of “shopper’s time” be included in the array of metrics physical store retailers rely on to improve their in-store engagement. There is no doubt that shoppers’ expectations of brick-and-mortar retailers are changing, given the number of new options they have to choose from — all of them more efficient than large-footprint retail stores. Measuring and improving the dollars spent per minute in the store is a good start in improving the efficiency of the store, with efficiency being defined as getting items that shoppers want in front of them quicker, without requiring the shopper to waste time venturing to all corners of the store to complete the shopping trip. However the notion of bringing the product to the shopper instead of luring the shopper to the far reaches of the store represents a significant paradigm shift for most retailers. Nonetheless the results, if done correctly, will be larger baskets, more loyal, appreciative shoppers and, above all, survival in an… Read more »

I had this conversation not too long ago with my daughter and a few of her friends. They still shop to stock up because it’s easier to do it all at once when you have small kids, but they spend more time shopping the perimeter of the store because they want fresh and organic choices. And they visit different stores for different things. I find myself visiting the grocery store every few days now because I also want the freshest choice available. Everywhere you look ads are about fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats that are ready to cook and eat, instead of frozen to thaw and cook next week. Consumers are responding to ready-to-cook meal kits that are available in stores. And grocers are getting smart with merchandise outposts. My go-to grocer now displays a selection of meats, potatoes, side dishes and desserts on the produce side of the store, just inside the front door. Old school thinking would be to put these displays at the rear of the store but that’s changing, too. Time-starved… Read more »

I’m not seeing any mention of consumer access to buying bulk items for less (paper towels, cases of bottled water and even smaller items like shampoo that last a long time) online. Shoppers can now avoid the stock-up nature of shopping trips to focus on what they need in the near future. It all plays into what current behavior looks like. We have to see beyond the numbers that simply highlight grocery store transactions before we can plan future strategies.

Smaller stores. There’s a 30,000 square-foot Whole Foods in our area and I can hit that for just about anything, including an entire grocery trip, in less that 45 minutes. It’s excellent compared to their 150,000 square-foot store north of here. I’m sure that Target and others are finding out the same thing now; that convenience and frequency are more important than ever. Aldi already knows that fact. Someone should tell Giant Eagle and Kroger that as they continue to open massive stores.

There are surveys and then there are other surveys. How many say shoppers do not like to go grocery shopping? So now we are to believe they prefer to go grocery shopping “several times” as needed as opposed to “once” for a big stock up. Huh?

The weekend shopping trip is still common in part because customers don’t have time during the week to purchase, especially for working families. See the FMI 2017/2018 reports. What I believe Neil and others astutely noted was the focus on perimeter sales — deli, bakery, meats, seafood, produce, floral, etc. by customers. A focus on perimeter is not new, though — it usually captures the highest profit margins for grocers. This growth also doesn’t prompt smaller, more frequent trips. The customer expects fresh to be available on any trip. The small, faster trip exists, but usually this is what you’re picking up on the way home from work and is usually tied to immediate needs, such as the milk needed for the next day or more likely dinner that evening. Speeding up time, accuracy and checkout speed are important solutions — especially for fast shoppers. For many grocers it’s about mapping customer segments to their own customer base with better analytics and in-store layouts rather than store formats. Grocers like Wegmans and others have adopted… Read more »