Trader Joe's Sees Growth In Store Visits, Report Says
Trader Joe’s has seen strong growth in foot traffic through the first eight months of 2024, according to a new report from Placer.ai, which surmised the additional foot traffic has been driven by consumers continuing to seek high-value products.
According to the report, year-over-year visits at Trader Joe’s are up 8.7% through August, compared to growth of 3% for the broader grocery segment. Additionally, Placer.ai said the share of Trader Joe’s California visitors frequenting other grocery stores has decreased. This suggests that more of its shoppers may be treating the retailer as a one-stop grocery destination.
More broadly, Placer.ai believes that despite the pricing of at-home food stabilizing, many consumers are still feeling the pinch of grocery costs. Trader Joe’s wide range of private label products offers shoppers a unique selection of items that value-conscious grocery shoppers find attractive.
From January through August, figures from Placer.ai revealed that Trader Joe’s has seen growth in store visits in each month, from a low of 1.7% in April to a high of 10.8% in March. The grocery retail segment as a whole has seen two months of negative store visits (-2.0% in January and -2.6% in April) and a high of 4.2% in March.
“Perhaps bolstered in part by several new locations, Trader Joe’s year-over-year visit growth has outperformed the wider grocery category every month of 2024 so far,” Placer.ai said in its report. “And the chain appears to be doubling down on its expansion strategy, with two dozen new stores planned through the end of 2024.”
In California, which is Trader Joe’s largest market, the grocer’s stores experienced year-over-year visit growth through the first eight months of 2024 ranging from 3.2% to 11.1%, while year-over-year foot traffic in the wider grocery segment in the state ranged from -2.7% to 4.6%.
Over the same period, the share of Trader Joe’s shoppers who also frequented other leading California grocery chains decreased significantly, indicating the grocer is making inroads with some of its toughest competition in the state.
Between January and August 2023, for example, 50.1% of visitors to a California Trader Joe’s also visited Ralphs – a share that dropped to 47.1% during the equivalent period of 2024. Similar patterns could be observed for VONS, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Safeway.
Placer.ai said this suggests that a growing percentage of Trader Joe’s shoppers may be relying on the chain for more of their essentials rather than visiting Trader Joe’s in addition to a traditional grocery store.
