1.9 2.7 1.5 2.5
-0.5 1.2
he past ;; weeks have been a
roller coaster for national grocery retail sales, with shifts in
what items drive sales growth
across food departments deviating from previous years. While total store sales across food,
beverage and nonedibles have topped ;;;;
billion, adding ;;; billion more sales dollars
since the same period in ;;;;, the growth’s
sources are not the same as in previous years.
In fact, nonperimeter food and beverage
items grew total store sales share for the ;rst
time in three years. Most surprising, as of ;;;;,
CPG edibles have outpaced fresh perime-
ter food sales growth by nearly ; percentage
point, with the New England and the Great
Lakes regions struggling the most to grow
perimeter sales. While fresh is still in demand,
key considerations contributing to the slow-
down include increased competition, price
pressures, lack of di;erentiation and a renais-
sance in foods within the frozen, refrigerated
and general food departments, including
innovation around quality, ;avors and healthy
options.
It is more important than ever for retailers
to consider new trends in shopping and how
to meet consumers’ shifting demands. For
IRI’s recent Top Trends in Fresh series, we
partnered with the Food Marketing Institute
to break down consumer trends and potential for growth into three key areas: format
experimentation, service customization and
customization continuum. We’ll save the last
Category Close-Up
The Future of
Fresh in the
Crosshairs of Upheaval
Fresh Business
Satisfying changing consumer preferences and the desire for
customization can put grocers in a prime position. By Jonna Parker
T
topic for a future article on value-added meal
kits and specialty foods and discuss how much
prep time and e;ort consumers are willing to
put into their meals.
Format Experimentation
Pressures Fresh Dollars
For the past several years, nontraditional fresh
retailers, including dollar and deep-discount
stores, have recognized and met consumers’
requests for fresh food o;erings. Aldi is at the
forefront of this revolution, with a recent IRI
consumer survey ;nding that fresh produce
is one of the top items consumers are most
interested in buying at Aldi. This shifting consumer interest shows a direct correlation to the
fragmentation of fresh dollars for traditional
retailers in recent years.
In the year ending June ;;;;, grocery still
accounted for ;;; of all produce dollars spent
across outlets; however, consumers are spending less there versus last year and spending
more on produce at Aldi, online and at dollar
stores. Most impressive, Lidl already accounts
for ;.;; of all national produce spending after
being open only for six months, according to
insights from IRI’s Consumer and Shopper
Insights Advantage With Fresh, for the ;;
weeks ending June ;;, ;;;;.
The greatest shift for nontraditional fresh
stores has been their rapid expansion, with dollar, deep discount and mass dominating new
store openings in ;;;;. As deep discounters
Perimeter is no longer the slam-dunk
store sales growth engine of years ago
Edi
ble
s
Pe
rime
ter
Beverages
Bakery
Frozen
Deli cheese
General food
Deli meat
Liquor
Deli prep Seafood
Refrigerated
Produce Meat
chg vs. YAGO CAGR ’15-’ 18
2.0%
1.2%
1.3%
1.3 1.2
2.3
-0.4 -0.3
1.2
1.6
3. 5 2.5
1.5
1.0 1.2 3. 5
2.5
1.0
0.7
0.4
-0.5 1.9