The shift, while small, could give food and beverage brands pause as they think through their distribution strategies – lifting up channels they previously might have delayed entering or skipped entirely.
According to FMI’s Grocery Shopper Trends report released this month, supermarkets remain the channel most frequently shopped with more than 80% of consumers visiting them “regularly,” while 65% of consumers say the same about Mass, 44% about Club and 31% about Dollar.
Notably, however, is that Club is keeping pace with Supermarkets in terms of growth – both up 2 percentage points while Mass is up 1 percentage point compared to February 2021, according to FMI.
Drilling down to where consumers consider their “primary store,” the shift becomes more apparent with only 40% of shoppers attributing this designation to supermarkets in 2022 compared to 49% pre-pandemic in 2019. Over the same period, Mass gained dedicated shoppers with 30% calling it their primary store in 2022 compared to just 24% in 2019, according to FMI.
It also highlighted the growth in Club, noting that “while still a small player in primary store, the Club channel has steadily grown its share of primary designation over the past three years” from just 5% in 2019 to 9% in 2022, FMI notes.
“This growth in Club could be supported by its alignment with shopper cost-fighting strategies, as 21% of shoppers indicate they are buying in bulk to address inflation,” FMI explained, adding that low prices are a top five priority for consumers who choose Mass or Club, but not for those who choose a Supermarket.
