Friday August 17, 2012

Consumers Surf Shopping Channels

Bellevue, WA — Shopping no longer takes place as weekly pantry stock-ups and instead is spread among channels and trips, according to The Hartman Group, Inc.

The researcher explains that consumers are supplementing stock-ups with additional trips based on occasions or immediate consumption needs and are increasingly likely to visit multiple stores in one day.

Further, club stores have outpaced grocery stores as the primary destination for stock-up trips, at 50 and 47 percent, respectively. Mass channels are the top destination for occasion-based purchasing, while drug stores are shopped for immediate consumption, Hartman says.

Laurie Demeritt, president and chief operating officer, adds: “The days of shopping trips to one store just to fill up the pantry are long gone. For today’s consumers, shopping is very much in constant motion; it’s a virtual 24-hour, seven-day-a-week activity. The consumer is now in total control of the shopping process, not the manufacturer or the retailer.”