While many consumers, particularly in North America, report stocking up as the primary reason for making a trip to the grocery store, that reason is not uniformly widespread across the globe, according to Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Survey.

Sales may increase when a brand is promoted, but is the promotion actually supporting the brand? In Australia, it is estimated that up to 30% of all grocery purchases are made on promotion and trends indicate that this could increase among the key retailers.

According to the most recent Nielsen Global Online Survey, 97 percent of Indians consider the safety of food an important factor when deciding where to shop.

Online grocery shopping is beginning to show resurgence and is poised for substantial growth. From convenience to selection to pricing, discover what consumers want and which strategies work best to keep them engaged.

Top line growth of grocery sales in Britain remained slow at 4.5 percent for the twelve weeks ending September 5th compared to the same period a year ago. Unpredictable weather and fickle shoppers affected food trade, although the late bank holiday did spur sales growth of 7.9 percent on a year-to-year basis for the week ending August 29th, according to Nielsen’s monthly survey. Unit growth continued increased 2.8 percent in the last four weeks of the period.

Back in 1983, when the movie “Mr. Mom” was released, the idea of a stay-at-home dad was unusual. The film made light of the fact that many men were completely unprepared for the responsibilities of the traditional “mom” role.  Almost three decades later, American men have taken on a greater percentage of the household shopping.  While females still dominate shopping trips in most channels, almost one-third of men are now the principal shoppers in the home. 
Overall, men are substantially increasing their average dollar basket size across all channels – especially …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
Last June, we fielded a survey to our Nielsen Homescan panel which included a question asking primary shoppers about their tendencies for reading labels on food and beverage packages.  Just under two-thirds of U.S. households (61%) agree completely or agree somewhat that they read these product labels, with 31% agreeing completely.  And as you might expect, we do see some differences when we drill down across demographic groups, but we thought it would be interesting to also look at how shoppers at …

Consumers around the world are changing the way they spend their money given the difficult and uncertain economic conditions.  In Singapore, one way people are adjusting is by eating at home more frequently, according to new research from Nielsen.  The result: the average Singapore home is spending more on fresh food, groceries and household items than in recent years, creating opportunities for retailers and manufacturers who know how to effectively leverage this new behavior.
The average household has increased overall spending in these categories by 14 percent, with fresh food spend …

Sales of food and beverages have been more resilient than non-consumable goods during the economic downturn.  But according to Nielsen, consumers are changing the way they buy food as they seek to stretch their dollars farther.
Grocers, drug stores and mass merchandisers are seeing strong growth in store-brand items.  Unit sales of those items grew an average of 4 percent in the last six months of 2008, led by dairy, packaged meats, frozen foods, deli, dry grocery and beverages.  Meanwhile, branded items declined an average of 3.3 percent during the same …

Americans are increasingly turning to foods and beverages that promote healthy living.  But just how much do these foods generate in sales? And which categories have shown the most growth?  Nielsen’s Healthy Eating Report for 2008 answers these and many other questions about food and beverage health and wellness claims.
Highlights of the report include:

Food labeled as “natural” generated $22.3 billion in sales in 2008, up 10% from 2007, and up 37% from 2004
Organic foods (UPC-coded) …