Last year’s channel migration update revealed a moderating channel migration trend, with nominal supercenter gains. How times have changed.
Over the past year, channel migration has accelerated as consumers face skyrocketing gas, energy and CPG costs – all at the same time. Supercenters secured sizable share gains over the past year, across every major CPG department. Further, gains occurred across income segments, as channel penetration extends beyond core lower-income consumers to middle and upper-income groups.
With the economy not expected to rebound until at least the second quarter of 2009, there is ample time for consumers to become comfortable with their new shopping patterns, suggesting that these changes and the competitive ramifications could have some staying power.
This report explores shifting shopping behavior across departments, categories and consumer segments to provide both retailers and manufacturers with a foundation for competitive and distribution strategy development and a baseline for ongoing tracking.
Select Findings
- Facing unprecedented financial burdens as gas, energy and CPG costs skyrocket simultaneously, consumers have made dramatic changes in where and how they shop
- Consumers are balancing the need to save money on CPG products with the need to conserve gas; the result is fewer, larger trips
- Supercenters have been the biggest beneficiaries of consumer change, securing sizable share gains across every major CPG department, across income and lifestage segments and among heavy shoppers of competing channels
- The grocery channel has lost ground across fresh/perishable, frozen and center store, including high-demand meal ingredient and meal component categories
- Cross-channel competition has intensified for self-care products, which are experiencing rapid demand increases; drug stores and supercenters have secured the largest gains, but channel shifts vary by category