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Grocery shoppers don't play favorites [The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va. :: ](Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 26--Today's grocery shopper is less likely to have a primary grocery store than in the past and, increasingly, that shopper is male. Those were among the findings of the Food Marketing Institute's U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2014, which were presented in a webinar for members and the media this week. "Loyalty to a single primary store is giving way to a diversity of stores," said Laurie Demeritt, CEO of consumer research firm The Hartman Group. "We've seen supermarket sales declining and supercenter sales going up, but both have decreased somewhat as primary channels." Consumers realize that there's a wide variety of places where they can buy groceries--from convenience stores and wholesale clubs like Costco to butcher shops and gourmet stores. And they want to try them all, she said. Hartman Group researchers based the trend study on the habits of 10 consumers that they spent time with in their homes and as they shopped, as well as 2,000 others that they tracked virtually. They found that women, who made up 80 percent of primary shoppers just five or six years ago, now account for 57 percent of them. Men, meanwhile, have gone from 20 percent to 43 percent of primary shoppers in that time period. In households where there are children under the age of 18, the percentages are split evenly between men and women. "Women say that they're doing more of the shopping and decision making," Demeritt said. "Men are going in with a list made by women, but they're increasingly making their own list." How they make that list differs dramatically, however, the report found. Women generally make a physical list. Men are more apt to have a mental one. The study also found: People are more interested in food than ever before thanks to the proliferation of cooking shows, food blogs and pictures of dishes posted on Facebook and Pinterest. Millennials, especially, are more apt to let social media shape their preferences than to ask their mom how to cook. People are relying on stores to be their sous chef, and then putting personal touches on prepped ingredients or prepared foods at home. Nearly two-thirds of us, 63 percent, don't know what we're going to eat until an hour beforehand. That's especially true of millennials, who often buy meals and snacks and eat them the same day. There's a generational shift in meal planning. Young people are less likely to decide what they're going to eat for the week and create a shopping list based on what they'll need than older generations. Cathy Jett: 540/374-5407 [email protected] ___ (c)2014 The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.) Visit The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.) at www.fredericksburg.com/flshome Distributed by MCT Information Services |