Same scenario for 3rd week of December
The third week of December has continued on the month’s trend. Independent grocers reported their same-store sales were down 2.60 percent, compared to the same period last year. Customer counts were down 0.11 percent.
Farm Bill signed into law
Last week, President Donald J. Trump signed the Agriculture improvement Act of 2018–better known as the Farm Bill. According to a publication by the Shelby Report, “thanks to the work of the National Grocers Association (NGA) and its membership, the final bill includes provisions that are beneficial to independent grocers and excludes detrimental measures such as imposing fees on retailers for accepting SNAP benefits.”
The Farm Bill dramatically increases the program spending over the next 10 years. It also makes it permanent, so improves the probability that independent grocers can benefit from the funding available, especially independent stores with extended service hours. Moving forward, retailers will have another source of data to compare shoppers’ behavior before and after the incentive.
