Posted on 06/19/2026 6:43:58 AM PDT by CaptainPhilFan
I read this website most days because as a conscientious shopper (prices, health, trends in retail) it's very interesting and sometimes eye opening.
Today's offering confirms what a lot of us are experiencing - higher costs means purchasing fewer items of better quality, and Shrinkflation is pissing us off.
I'm not sure how much I can copy and paste, but here goes. I reformatted for easier reading.
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More than half have changed how much food they purchase per trip according to report
Consumers are also actively adjusting purchasing habits to manage household budgets while continuing to prioritize products they view as most important.
Consumers are making more deliberate choices about what stays in their grocery baskets as rising costs, evolving eating habits and broader economic uncertainty influence purchasing decisions, according to new research released Thursday by AI platform RELEX Solutions.
The RELEX State of Supply Chain Consumer Pulse survey of 1,000 consumers across the U.S. and U.K. found that 61% have changed how much food they purchase due to higher grocery prices.
Nearly half (46%) have cut back on snacks and junk food, 39% have reduced beef purchases and 34% have cut back on alcohol.
At the same time, 68% say fresh groceries remain worth paying more for and 49% say the same for household essentials, suggesting consumers continue to prioritize freshness even as they make tradeoffs elsewhere in their grocery baskets.
According to the data, consumers are not reducing spending uniformly across grocery categories. Instead, they are making different tradeoffs based on price, value, health priorities and household budgets, creating a more complex demand environment for retailers and manufacturers.
Additional findings include:
54% say lower prices are the single most important action retailers can take to help consumers manage rising costs
49% are closely monitoring beef prices as an indicator of their overall cost of living
39% say efforts to reduce food waste are influencing how much food they purchase
37% say healthier eating habits are influencing purchasing decisions
10% say GLP-1s or other appetite-affecting medications have influenced how much food they purchase
71% are cooking at home more often than they were a year ago
The survey found that broader economic concerns continue to influence purchasing behavior.
More than seven in 10 consumers (71%) are concerned that tariffs, geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and other global events will continue increasing the cost of everyday goods over the next six months.
Those concerns are already influencing how consumers shop:
51% stock up during promotions
47% have switched to private-label products
40% shop at discount retailers more often
38% visit multiple stores to find the best prices
Consumers are also actively adjusting purchasing habits to manage household budgets while continuing to prioritize products they view as most important.
At the same time, products feeling smaller or lower quality ranked as the second-biggest shopping frustration overall, highlighting continued awareness of shrinkflation and value.
The consumer findings align closely with trends identified in RELEX’s 2026 State of Supply Chain report, which found organizations continue to face significant challenges related to inflation, tariffs, demand volatility and changing consumer preferences.
According to the report:
86% of organizations report being impacted by tariffs and trade policy changes
40% cite customer demand fluctuations as a major disruption
34% say demand volatility is complicating planning decisions
30% of retailers say adapting to changing consumer demand is a significant challenge
As consumer purchasing patterns continue to evolve, retailers and manufacturers face increasing pressure to accurately forecast demand, align inventory and assortment decisions and respond to changing purchasing patterns.
What makes the current environment challenging is that demand is not moving uniformly. Consumers are continuing to spend in some categories while pulling back in others, creating more variability across product groups and making category-level planning increasingly important.
“For retailers and manufacturers, the biggest risk is assuming consumers are responding to rising costs in the same way,” said Laurence Brenig-Jones, VP Product, Platform, RELEX Solutions.
“Consumers are making highly individualized decisions based on price, health goals, value and household priorities. What’s interesting is that while shoppers are pulling back in some categories, they continue to prioritize fresh groceries. That creates a very different planning challenge than broad-based demand declines because retailers need to be able to respond to shifting demand at the category level. As those preferences continue to evolve, understanding category-level demand shifts is becoming increasingly important for managing supply chain, pricing, promotions and assortment.”
Groceries aren’t more expensive than they used to be: The value of our time —our very lives— has been significantly diminished. We should be asking by whom... Someone benefited.
Well, I understand your reasoning but groceries are actually more expensive compared to our spending abilities.
Inflation? Stagflation? Shrinkflation?
Salaries haven’t moved much in 20 years or more while everything around us becomes a struggle to afford.
In one view, at least people and families are trying to eat healthier and waste less.
“38% visit multiple stores to find the best prices”
************
We have three grocery stores nearby (four actually but one is too expensive). Yesterday I saved over $3 on a single item by driving two minutes to a competitor. I guess you can say we’re in that 38%.
People seem to be going out to lunch less around here.
A couple local restaurant/bars have gone out of business just recently. I know these places come and go, but these seemed to be fairly busy.
There is a Mexican place right near my office. I walk around my office park at lunch a few days a week. Right through their parking lot. On Tuesday there was one car there for lunch. Probably four or five employee vehicles/motorcycles.
I recognize them because I walk be frequently.
All I can assume is that it is a money laundering operation.
Maybe for some other Mexican related business(hint hint).
“More than seven in 10 consumers (71%) are concerned that tariffs, geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and other global events will continue increasing the cost of everyday goods over the next six months.”
A perfect example of why we need to grow our own food and stop importing foodstuffs (like beef). We have plenty of land for growing and raising animals, but the government and elites want to make us a global family. It also doesn’t help that land prices are skyrocketing with this BS of house shortages (not a shortage too many foreigners coming over) which has run many a family off their farms and ranches and prevent newcomers to the trade, coupled with asinine government regulations.
I’m already eating tomatoes and peppers from my yard, that’s nice.
I no longer care what I spend. I found that it is not that much compared to eating out which we really don’t do because of a lack of restaurants.
I hate eating out at restaurants. Only do it for the occasional convenience or for socializing with others. I’m totally spoiled by great food and drink at home. :)
Frozen is better. Fresh means they picked before it was ripened and fully nutritioned and let it ripen during delivery.
Frozen is processed when the vegetables and fruit are ripe.
The Fed insists on attempting to create an inflation rate of about 2-3%. How about a short term deflation?
I used to go out to lunch a lot - many restaurants had great lunch specials.
Those “lunch specials” that used to be less than $10 are now closer to $17-20 - and the portions far smaller - so no thanks.
I can make a great turkey and avocado sandwich, sun chips, a couple of cookies and a drink for far less.
I rotate between three (Costco, Trader Joe’s, Luckys) and know what to buy from whom… for example, lettuce is Trader Joe. Paper goods is Costco. Soda is Luckys. Etc.
While I don't know where you live, I can make a pretty good guess where you don't live.
A lot of processed food has gone down in quality.
It’s very easy to put less cheese in a cracker, but an X oz. package of cheese will have X oz. of cheese in it.
I buy dated bread, put cheese on it, and then put it in a toasted oven to melt the cheese.
I do grocery shopping for meats early in the morning on Fridays to get the “sell-by” prices that are 1/2 off and I paid $5/lb for hamburger! Thats the “normal” price. Somethings gotta give.
Agreed with your final comment on things. We as a society have trended way too far into the habit of eating out, which generally means eating garbage food. More homegrown/home cooked meals is a good thing.
Inflation/Stagflation/Shrinkflation are all different ways in which the material quality of our lives has been gutted. The news should be more about how much less a dollar (that measure of the value of our individual time) is worth (as determined by whom?) and less about how much ‘prices are going up’.
I’ve written here before that on a monthly basis, my costs of living have increased just about $1800 per month over the past five years. My lifestyle didn’t change one iota, except perhaps for the fact that the quality of goods and services has plummeted. Someone has my GD money. I want to know who. And I want it back. Some see these as simply rhetorical points, but I’m serious. We of what was once the middle class have become serfs.
The high costs of the PPACA show up in labor-intensive products (many processed foods) and services (restaurants).
The customer is not only being asked to pay for work, but health care too.
One can do the work oneself in many cases and dispense with the need to pay for someone else’s health care.
I see so many things at Walmart priced as if made in the USA but Made in China or even cheaper place.
It might be that reduced unit sales come with higher markups to maintain, or enhance, profits.
Anyone who’s been to WalMart and seen EBT users with two shopping carts full of heat-and-eat foods and soft drinks knows this story is BS.
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