Where consumers shop shifts back to supermarkets, ‘bucking the trend toward mass’

“Supermarkets continue to be the primary store of choice for the broad majority of shoppers. In fact, 40% of shoppers cite the supermarket as their main store of choice – bucking the trend toward mass that has been taking place over the past decade,” said Laurie Demeritt, CEO and owner of The Hartman Group, which conducted FMI’s annual survey, US Grocery Shopper Trends 2024: Finding Value​, released last week.

The percentage of shoppers citing supermarkets as their primary destination for food is up 2 percentage points from 2023, and appears to have stabilized in general since 2021. In the past four years, supermarket’s share has vacillated between 38% and 40%. This stabilization is lower, though, than 10 years ago when supermarkets captured 52% of share.

“Historically, supermarkets have been far and away the most popular store option. As recently as 2019, twice as many shoppers at 49% [said] they primarily shop for food at the supermarket as they did at a mass store at 24%. That gap shrunk significantly from 2020 to 2023 – with supermarkets’ advantage shrinking from 38% to 33% over mass last year,” Hartman said.

Noting that 32% of shoppers say they use a mass store as a primary food shopping option, Hartman adds that the erosion supermarkets experienced occurred in part because shoppers visited more stores and channels – including online – on a regular basis.

“However, this year, we have seen a shift towards a more simplified store mix, with supermarkets gaining some ground as the primary store preference,” Demeritt said.