Consumer spending up 14.5% year over year
Consumer spending was up 14.5% year over year for the first nine months of the year, and has returned to pre-pandemic levels for many retail categories. Read more …
Supply chain disruptions hit Main Street
As concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic ease, small businesses are seeing customers return to their stores, eager to shop. But the pandemic has placed significant strains on global supply chains, making it more difficult for retailers to source products in an efficient, timely and affordable manner. While there is...
Online Grocery Sales Grew in August
Online grocery sales grew to $8.6 billion in August in the U.S., a 4.7 percent increase versus a year ago, according to the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey. Ship-to-home sales dropped nearly 22 percent from last year to $2 billion and the combined delivery/pickup segment grew 16 percent...
Grocery parking lots become prime real estate
The rise in grocery pickup has revealed the lucrative value of parking lots for grocers during the pandemic as a reported 75% of shoppers used curbside pickup in the past six months, according to Digital Commerce 360. “Parking areas became a vital part of business as many customers ordered...
Physical retail still plays a major role in consumers’ lives
A new white paper from Deloitte, “What’s in Store in a Vaccinated World,” highlights the ways in which consumer priorities and expectations for physical shopping have shifted, and what that means for retailers. Consumers have higher expectations for in-store experiences and services, with 83% of consumers now expecting stores...
Food, Beverage Fastest Growing Online Category
Food and beverage will be the fastest-growing online sales category during the next several years, with a compound annual growth rate of 30% over the period spanning 2019 through 2024, according to a recent report by Forrester. Read more …
In-store grocery shopping still preferred
Eighty-six percent of people surveyed want to shop for their own groceries at brick-and-mortar locations, even as the access and popularity of online shopping increases, according to a poll by Survey Monkey. The survey shows the preference for in-store shopping held fast across gender, age and income groups. Read...
Online grocery sales up from last year
Online grocery sales increased 43 percent over a year ago, according to new data from Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey, reports Progressive Grocer. Read more …
Grocery visits drop, but from record levels
A report from Placer.ai shows visits to the grocery store have dropped by 28% year over year, but the sharp decline is from the unprecedented levels seen at the start of the pandemic. Grocery performance so far this year has been relatively robust, and Ethan Chernofsky of Placer.ai says...
Contactless payment demand continues to grow
The demand for contactless payment options has soared during the pandemic, with 92 million people using some type of mobile wallet function in 2020, and that figure is projected to grow to 101 million people this year, a report from eMarketer shows. Gen Z and millennials led the trend,...