July & August Recap
The second week of August paired down its losses on sales only to tick back up in week 3. However, all three weeks showed increases in customer counts. While CPI Food at home is slightly positive on the year at +0.4%, as inflation begins to pick up, retaining and growing the customer counts will lead to sales gains. As everyone is fighting to gain customers with promotions, there is an obvious flow thru impact to the top line there as well as subdued inflation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics July release;
“The food at home index increased 0.4 percent over the past year. Four of the six major grocery store food group indexes rose over the span; the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs and the fruits and vegetables index both rose 0.9 percent over the last 12 months, the largest increases among the groups. The indexes for dairy and related products and nonalcoholic beverages both declined over the past year. The index for food away from home increased 2.8 percent over the past 12 months.”
In addition, the more retailers can effectively merchandise to increase basket sizes, the more positive the upswing. With continued competition from both conventional brick and mortar and online experiences, independents who are growing their customer count have a tremendous opportunity to transform that into top line growth. There is also greater opportunity with Food Away from Home increasing at 2.8% to provide value for your customers.