The Branded Pantry

A Supermarket News quoting an IRI study listed some interesting consumer trends.  Consumers were visiting Supercenters 5.5% more often, Dollar Stores 4% more often, and traditional Supermarkets 2% less often than was the case a year ago.  And this was before the full impact of the current credit crisis was known/understood (many would argue this has yet to happen). 

The study argues that consumers have redefined convenience.  They are increasingly pantry filling at the SuperCenter regardless of the distance to that Supercenter.  Then they are using Supermarkets, Drug Stores, C-Stores closer to home for their fill in trips. 

I am not sure that consumers have redefined convenience, but they may have instead re-weighted the price-paid part of the equation particularly as gas prices begin to decline (its all relative, eh?).  In the absence of real convenience (shorter trips or no trips via online shopping for groceries) consolidation of trips (less fuel) and lower prices will trump customer service and the other attributes that industry participants usually list when asked about convenience.

Oh, and according to MyWebGrocer online grocery customers are making fewer, larger trips, but there are more consumers making the switch so same store sales are trending very nicely.