As the “great recession” continues and consumers hear conflicting messaging about when the U.S. economy will improve, shoppers from all income levels are increasingly seeking out and taking advantage of deals at the grocery store. Whether in the form of store promotion or deal or manufacturers coupon, deal rates are up more than 8% from a year ago for households earning more than $70K, a faster rise than the 6% uptick for middle-income households ($30K-$69.9K) and 5% gain for the lower income households earning less than $30K per year.

Those affluent …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights
Over the latest six (4-week) periods ending 5/16/2009, store brand unit sales averaged a 5.7% increase in consumer-packaged-goods departments tracked by Nielsen in food, drug and mass-merchandisers (including Walmart).  Most of this growth is from edible departments (i.e., fresh meat, fresh produce, packaged meat, dairy, dry grocery, frozen and deli).  While branded unit sales declined, on average by 3.1%, unit sales in the last two periods were up 2.2% and off 1%, respectively.  While this is not a definitive sign that brands are turning the …

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 …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
For those of you who attended our 2009 Consumer 360 client conference, you heard the opening remarks from John Lewis, President & CEO, Nielsen Consumer North America, on the impact of the economy on our industry.  His message was about how our company is “investing considerable resources in the area of thought leadership to mine Nielsen content to understand what will happen tomorrow; where (our economy) will settle; and what will the new paradigm look like?”
When John looks at the economy he …

After the salmonella scare at the start of the year, sales of jarred peanut butter took a hit as consumers tried to determine which products were affected.  Last month, sales returned to their normal historical patterns, a trend that continued in the most recent four week period tracked by Nielsen.  On an equivalized unit volume basis, sales were up 3 percent from the same period in 2008 and down 1 percent from the previous four week period in 2009 – a trend Nielsen has seen in previous years.  Sales rose …

As previously reported, sales of over-the-counter smoking cessation products such as nicotine gum, lozenges and patches have increased as new federal and state taxes have boosted the price of a pack of cigarettes to $10 or more.  And the trend detected in the weeks immediately following the tax increases has not abated: in the most recent four week period ended May 16th, dollar sales of the aids were up 18.9 percent over the same period in 2008, while on an equivalized unit volume basis sales were up 30.1 percent (and up …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Shopper and Consumer Insights
The recession gripping the U.S. has prompted many families to eat in and to entertain at home, and in many ways, return to basics in an effort to save money.  Many analysts are predicting that the changes being witnessed in consumer behavior will be permanent.  While these changes have had a negative impact on some sectors, others have benefited by adapting to the changing times and leveraging fundamental brand strengths.  Two such sectors — canning and freezing supplies, and gardening supplies – …

Earlier this year, smokers around the country were hit with a 61.1 cent increase in the federal tax on cigarettes.  Combined with state and local taxes, packs of cigarettes in some areas now cost $10 or more.  Some officials say that in addition to raising much-needed revenue, higher prices will cause more smokers to kick the habit.  Based on an analysis of sales of over-the-counter smoking cessation products such as nicotine gum, patches and lozenges, Nielsen found that high prices may indeed prompt some smokers to try to quit.
For the …

The peanut butter salmonella contamination earlier this year – which caused several fatalities – not surprisingly caused a dip in the sales of the product.  But now that the situation has subsided, sales of jarred peanut butter have returned to normal patterns.  For the four-week period ended April 18th, sales rose 2.7 percent over the previous four-week period, and were up 10.7 percent over the same period a year ago.
“The fact is that the contamination was limited to one supplier, and none of the big name brands were affected.  Consumers …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights
Last week, my colleague Tom Pirovano wrote about how the economic downturn has slowed the growth of organic products to almost a standstill.   Looking at the broader health and wellness category, we are seeing similar patterns.  Grouping health and wellness claims Nielsen tracks through its LabelTrends service into three tiers based on annual growth rates, retailers and manufacturers will notice some interesting developments.
Tier 1 (15% to 26% annual sales growth): Just one claim – omega – showed any dollar growth in the last four weeks, racking up …