CHICAGO – SymphonyIRI Group has released a new Times & Trends report, "The New Path to Purchase: An Escalation of Channel & Consumption Migration," that reveals consumers are cutting back on the number of stores that they visit and spending less per trip.
The report reveals that since the second quarter of 2009, the number of shoppers visiting less than five stores has increased every quarter. By contrast, those who stop between five and nine stores during the same timeframe has dropped every quarter except one, and the number of consumers shopping at 10 or more stores has remained steady.
While average basket size has decreased over the past year for grocery stores, supercenters, and club channels, the average basket size for convenience stores, dollar stores, and drug stores has increased 8%, 3.8%, and 1.7%, respectively.
"Trip missions" for nearly all categories has declined sharply since the second quarter of 2009, except for quick trip shopping excursions, which jumped sharply in the second quarter of 2010.
Overall, grocery remained the dominant channel with 98.4% penetration during the year ending June 27, 2010, followed by drug (77%), mass merchandise (71.6%), and supercenters (69.5%).
“Shoppers are not enjoying the same financial success as corporations this spring and summer, and their continued search for lower cost retail channels reflects this," said John McIndoe, senior vice president, marketing, SymphonyIRI, said. “In addition to potential pressure on retailer revenues and margins, these trends point to managers having fewer chances to ‘get it right’ with shoppers. If a shopper visits a store and is unhappy with the experience, she will quickly go elsewhere."