Catalina releases CPG report on pandemic buying changes
Shopper intelligence leader Catalina has released new data on shifting buying trends with consumers two years after the pandemic began.
The data company’s Buyer Intelligence Platform tracked behavior across U.S. grocery stores, and compiled the top 10 categories that saw the most growth over a two year span. The sales data includes both branded and private label products.
“Looking at the past two years of data beginning with the week ending Feb. 15, 2020, when coronavirus concerns first started to grow, shoppers made more trips than average in March 2020 when the pandemic set in, but drastically reduced trips that April as they began sheltering at home,” said Catalina. “The subsequent impact of lockdowns, masking and social distancing paved the way for a lasting decline in weekly, in-person shopping trips starting in May 2020, compared to the prior year. That trend continues as guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) continue to shift. While people by and large have been shopping less, they continue to buy more in-store. Spending per trip has increased by 22% on average, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Overall, average weekly spending on groceries has increased by 16%.”
Catalina recently unveiled its report on alcohol sales, showing that sales leading up to St. Patrick’s Day were poised to exceed pre-pandemic levels.
The Top 10 categories seeing the greatest sales growth during year one of the pandemic have either seen strong year-over-year increases since 2019 (pre-pandemic) or experienced declines last year. Catalina says the majority are still above where they were when the pandemic began:
In 2021, face masks accounted for 80% of the home health testing category, according to Catalina data. Their strong sales performance has continued even as masking guidelines established by the CDC have evolved, and COVID-19 home testing kits were launched in April 2021. The data also reveals that most shoppers are still conscious about fighting germs, just not as much, with sales for liquid hand soaps, personal moist towelettes, and household disinfectants all dropping in 2021, but currently still reflecting higher sales than pre-pandemic levels.
Three of the top 10 categories are foods that continue to show an increased appetite for convenience and/or comfort, including processed cheese slices, bacon, refrigerated cookie & brownie dough and snacks/cakes, and frozen breaded vegetables. A recent report from the National Confectioners Association showed that candy and chocolate sales hit an all-time high in 2021.
An outlier in the data includes the camping/sports accessories category, which continues to reflect consumers wanting to spend more time outdoors. The rise of home baking as a hobby has stuck, though not at the same level as the first year of the pandemic. Categories like flour, condensed milk, baking extracts and waxed paper products have fallen, but are still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Scratch baking is declining, with yeast sales falling over the past year, but brownie, cookie and cornbread mixes continue to sell well.
