Circana, 210 Analytics and the International Fresh Produce Association team up to document the impact on sales patterns in fresh produce.
The July Marketplace
July was another month of single-digit food and beverage inflation for U.S. retail. While the Circana (formerly IRI) sales numbers showed little to no response or improvement in volume sales across most departments, fresh produce was a powerful exception, according to Jonna Parker, Team Lead Fresh with Circana (formerly IRI). “Total food and beverage sales in July reflected the now familiar patterns of increased dollars but decreased unit and pound sales,” she said. Fresh produce was one of the rare exceptions that grew dollars, units and volume in July — the second time this year that produce improved its pound performance over year-ago levels.”
Circana’s household engagement insights show the reason behind the overall down performance in food and beverages. Hyper-focused on sales specials, consumers are shopping more often and across more stores. At the same time, inflation continues to provide a small boost to the average shopping ring for most departments. However, the increase in the average basket is below the rate of inflation and has been for a while. This is caused by consumers balancing their budgets by buying on deal, switching to private brands, finding smaller packages, and above all else, buying less altogether. “The average number of items bought on each trip has been on a downward trajectory for more than two years,” Parker explained. While the numbers are a little different for each department, the patterns are very similar across most — making produce a notable exception this month.”
