With economic uncertainty mounting and people tightening their purses and wallets thanks to inflation and President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, it comes as no surprise that shoppers are buying less at the grocery store.
Supermarket News reports that while people “made more trips to the grocery store” in May, they checked out with less items.
Data from marketing firm Circana reveals average consumers have grocery shopped 62 times per household since the beginning of the year, which is up 4.3 percent from the first two quarters of 2024.
Interestingly though, the amount of products people are buying at the grocery store each trip is shrinking, and is down 2.3 percent year over year.
Shoppers appear to be limiting their grocery spending by either buying fewer items or smaller product sizes.
Food products on the decline in terms of overall purchasing quantities include fresh vegetables (in contrast, frozen produce is on the rise); fresh seafood; frozen beverages; and fresh baked goods.
Perhaps surprisingly, people are buying more meat in volume, which means shoppers are buying larger pack sizes.
According to Supermarket News, pounds of meat purchased grew 3.2 percent this year, thanks in part to the popularity of beef and chicken in the U.S.
Meat sales were up year over year in May, with ground chicken sales in particular up 13.6 percent.
The data gels with a recent market analysis from Research and Markets. According to Yahoo! Finance, the processed meat market, currently valued at $29 billion, is expected to reach $37 billion by 2030 as demand increases for convenient, easy-to-make meals.
That projected growth is also thanks to the growing popularity of foods such as ground chicken, which is quickly becoming a favorite among grocery shoppers thanks to its affordability and an increasing preference for white meat.
