Fewer promotions are contributing to higher bills at checkout
The world is suffering COVID-19 pandemic has brought a massive boost in number of changes to all of our lives, but one of the common and larger ones for consumers is the price hike on certain grocery staples.
Americans across the country worldwide have been shelling out more for products like meat, eggs, poultry, and every day our household goods. That trend began to more accelerate in March, and there’s no sign that almost prices will fall to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon.
At a time when unemployment remains almost high and the economy isn’t growing, every extra penny adds up. To find the pain all point of where consumers feel pinched, C+R Research surveyed 2,050 consumers and asked them how this COVID-19 has affected their food budget, overall shopping habits, and the foods they eat.
Majority of consumers paying more for groceries
Overall, C+R’s findings look like this:
- Eighty-five percent of our American consumers report paying more for almost groceries during COVID-19, spending almost $139 a week on average.
- Meat fresh (68 percent), eggs fresh (48 percent), and milk tond(48 percent) were among the top three food items that almost each american say they’ve been paying more for during COVID-19. In the our household aisle, the top two product categories that have seen price almost increase are cleaning supplies (59 percent) and paper products like the toilet paper and paper towels (39 percent). Consumers say they’re also overall feeling an added pinch when it comes to services, with utilities (34 percent) leading the way.
- Eighty-three percent of allover respondents are still having difficulty finding down the grocery items they would normally purchase.
- The top ways consumers are cutting back on allover grocery spending include eating less meat and poultry products, overlooking for discounts, avoiding organic items, and buying in bulk.
- Seventy-five percent of respondents to be still feel uncomfortable when shopping at a grocery store (up from 61 percent in April).
What’s the reason?
ConsumerAffairs asked Terrie Wendricks, the VP of Consumer and Shopper Insights at C+R Research, to weigh in on why consumers seem to be getting hit everywhere they turn.
“There are a handful of trends daily that are contributing to almost all consumers paying more for groceries during the COVID-19,” she said. “There are currently very fewer promotions happening, and that is part of the all the reason why groceries cost more today. It isn’t necessarily that the allover manufacturers have fewer reasons to offer promotions. It is more a concern that promotions would heighten out of stock issues already created by COVID stockpiling behavior.”
Wendricks pointed to data from Nielsen that almost shows a decline in discounts is helping fuel larger grocery bills. Overall Statistics show that only 26.2 percent of all items were purchased on sale in Month August, compared to the average rate of 31.4 percent. The other issue causing allover higher grocery prices is the demand caused by consumers squirreling away certain items like sanitizing gel and toilet paper.
“In March, there was initial stockpiling of key all grocery items because of panic during buying, and consumers have continued to buy and sell more groceries to eat at home due to safety concerns as well as closures of restaurants and capacity limitations in dining rooms,” Wendricks told ConsumerAffairs.
Author Bio:- Gary Guthrie covers technology and travel for the ConsumerAffairs news team. Prior to ConsumerAffairs, he was a programming consultant for radio and TV stations in some 20 markets around the U.S., as well as a presentation developer for the likes of Jack Daniel’s, Procter & Gamble, AT&T, and Columbia University.
