CHICAGO—IRI Times & Trends Report, “Pantry Stocking in a Down Economy”, reveals that the recession is causing shoppers to revisit their behaviors and stock up their pantries. According to the report, while stock-ups represent just 14 percent of shoppers’ trips, these trips account for 42 percent of consumer packaged goods (CPG) expenditures.
The pantry-stocking trip, more broadly a household stocking trip, is a shopping excursion characterized by the presence of a wide variety of items—food and/or non-food—in the shopping basket, resulting in a high basket ring. Pantry stocking most frequently occurs in grocery and supercenter outlets. Within these channels, pantry stock-up missions represent 21 percent of trips and close to half of channel sales.
“Staying abreast of rapidly changing consumer attitudes and behaviors has never been more critical,” said IRI Consulting and Innovation President Thom Blischok. “The shopper is redefining the components in their pantry each and every day through a ‘new lens of affordability.’ That ‘lens’ is projected to last for at least the next four plus years until the shopper gains confidence that the economic conditions have returned to a degree of normalcy. Our latest research takes an in-depth look at the consumer mindset during the single-largest shopping trip mission, pantry stocking, and provides a road map for developing and executing marketing strategies that address the complex and changing needs of U.S. consumers in a recessionary economy.”