USA: Inflation prompted some shifts of demand in fruit and vegetable in September

September continued where August left off. The stellar 2020 performance for fresh produce was secured by better trip conversion and an increase in spend per trip. In 2021, engagement remained high with only small decreases that could be attributable to farmers’ markets, road side stands and other alternative formats opening back up. “The multi-month normalization of consumption and grocery shopping patterns came to a halt in August hand-in-hand with an uptick in COVID-19 case counts,” said Jonna Parker, Team Lead Fresh with IRI. “In September, the IRI survey of primary grocery shoppers once more found an elevated share for at-home meal preparation, at 79%, compared to the July low of 76.6%.” At the same time, the survey found that more people returned to buying groceries online. During the height of the pandemic, as many as 20% of trips were online. This dropped to a low of 11% in July. In August, the online share of trips increased to 13% and in September the share reached 14%. ...