How inflation is impacting US grocery purchases

Rising inflation is exerting an influence on US shopper habits in the grocery category, but the exact impacts will vary depending on a consumer’s life stage and location, a study by research firm Morning Consult has found.

Key insights

Based on a survey of 2,200 adults across the US, Morning Consult found:

• The monthly outlay on groceries jumped by 4.1% year-on-year in February 2022, lagging behind an 8.6% increase in the consumer price index for food eaten at home in the same period.
• Adults earning less than $50,000 per year were allocating a larger share of their total outlay to groceries than segments with higher household incomes. Fully 17.9% of consumers in this group were not confident in their ability to pay monthly grocery bills, up by 1.6 points month-on-month – more than doubling the percentage amount for the other income cohorts.
• Consumers in the Midwest and Southern states reported the greatest spike in spending on groceries over the last year, at 8% apiece. This figure stood at 2% in the West, but totals actually fell by 5% in the Northeast, proving that on-the-ground realities differ substantially by region.
• Ninety percent of survey respondents aged 65 years old and above anticipate that food prices will continue to rise in the next 12 months. Sixty-six percent of this cohort made the same prediction in February 2021.
• Less than two-thirds of participants under the age of 35 years old thought grocery costs were likely to increase, but anxiety on this front was rising for these shoppers, too, and was up 16 points year-on-year.

Final thought

“The relatively smaller annual increase in spending amounts compared with price suggests that some consumers may be buying fewer items or selecting lower-priced options from grocery aisles in order to stretch grocery budgets as prices climb.” – Morning Consult’s “U.S. Consumer Spending Report.”