Consumers Frequenting Club Retailers, Big-Box Supercenters

A recent Wall Street Journal article suggested that the trend of U.S. consumers making more frequent shopping trips, but buying less each trip was new, a result of the continuing tough economic conditions and a desire by consumers “to keep cash on hand.” What’s more, the article noted that food and consumer packaged goods companies as well as retailers have been introducing smaller package sizes and changing displays to attract shoppers interested in smaller sizes. Nielsen’s research supports findings in the article and we’ve taken a deeper dive into the issues to identify trends for small and large trips within specific retail channels and consumer segments.

We can confirm that the biggest increases in small trips to the big-box supercenters and club retail channels have increased and Nielsen’s research shows that those increases are driven by affluent consumers. On the flip side, while smaller trips are of greater importance to the grocery, drug, convenience/gas and dollar channels, larger trips are gaining ground. Here too there are differences across income classification, providing opportunities for retailer/store-specific and consumer segment trip-type solutions.

Looking at differences in trip capture across retail channels and retailers, Nielsen’s long-standing research reveals insights that quantifies the categories that are strong drivers of certain trip types and identifies the categories that are likely to be included in those shopping trips.

In this current work, shopping trips are segmented into four types:

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Nielsen.