At-home cooking, online grocery shopping, and an evolved perspective on wellness are the three major focus areas defined by FMI’s 2021 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report. Prepared in partnership with The Hartman Group, the report explores how the future of food retail will be colored by the pandemic and driven by shifts in the way consumers purchase groceries.
According to the report, 58 percent of shoppers report eating at home more, and nearly half (49 percent) report cooking or preparing their own meals more than before the pandemic. This has led to more customers enjoying the shopping experience, with 42 percent saying they like or love to shop.
Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of U.S. adults said they shop online for groceries, with frequency increasing to weekly orders for 29 percent of respondents. According to the report, for the first time, many more online grocery shoppers now consider a mass retailer to be their primary store.
As far as wellness, FMI noted that shoppers’ concept of being well involves an interlocking, circular relationship among the domains of shopping, cooking, and eating, which helps to understand shoppers’ engagement with the evolving retail landscape.
“Throughout this past year, American grocery consumers have developed a deeper relationship with their kitchens, increased their healthy eating consciousness, and have learned new ways to shop,” FMI president and CEO Leslie Sarasin said in a statement. “We see shoppers engaging in more stock-up trips to support their at-home cooking, exercising new online shopping skills, and letting their personal concept of being well impact their food and shopping behaviors. Looking ahead, we expect many of these trends to continue.”
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Image: FMI