Marketing smartly to today’s grocery shopper is tricky business, with retailers facing a variety of competing demands:
- Shoppers seek a reliable inventory at stores…but then will not reliably visit.
- Shoppers say they want greater selection…but continue to price-shop for the best value on their tried-and-true brands.
- Shoppers say they want one-stop shopping…but continue to shop a greater number of stores.
How, then, can any food business serve shoppers at a scale that supports a healthy business?
Our Q3 syndicated study, Food Sourcing in America 2025: Fragmentation and Focus, helps food retailers and producers make sense of these conflicting behaviors and preferences by exploring the underlying causes—and subsequent implications—of the fragmentation we’re seeing in today’s marketplace.
Let’s take a look inside some of the report’s top insights:
Mass eats away at Grocery’s dominance
Over the past eight years, the average shopper has added two retailers and one full channel into their monthly rotation: the average American has shopped 5.8 channels in the past month. This new diversity is driven in part by expanded usage of Mass for groceries:
- 85% of shoppers have used Mass in the last 30 days, vs. 82% having used Grocery
- 43% of Millennials list a mass store as their primary store compared to 26% of Boomers
- 48% of Mass shoppers were highly satisfied with their last trip, vs. 42% of Grocery shoppers
While on a smaller scale, Dollar, Club, Convenience and Specialty channels have all also expanded their monthly reach as sources of food. It’s important to note that shoppers haven’t necessarily discovered new channels to shop for groceries, but instead have added more of those “once-in-a-while” stores into their regular monthly rotation.
Consumers want to diversify—not consolidate—their mix of stores
Managing cost is often cited as a primary reason for shopping around, but using multiple stores is far more complex and strategic than these transactional motivations. It is also about perceived differences in product and brand selection, desires for enjoyment and experience, catering to personalized tastes and more. Shoppers consider the skill of developing a personalized store mix to be just as valuable as knowing how to find the best value when shopping.
Key takeaway
All of this change has many retailers focused on how to increase basket size and trip frequency. However, they may be focusing on the wrong challenge.
The persistence of trip fragmentation reflects what shoppers actually want to do rather than illuminating an unmet need. Instead of resisting the non-exclusive shopper, brands and retailers can—and should—adapt to their changing values, goals and behaviors.
Purchase the full report for more in-depth insights and guidance on how to adapt your strategies for five distinct shopper segments: Routine, ROI, Reliability, Reactivity and Renewal. Plus, gain exclusive insights with our detailed dashboards, comparing nine key channels and 15 top retailers.
Source: Food Sourcing in America 2025: Fragmentation and Focus, Hartman Group