Posted inAssociation News, Featured News, Grocery Research, National, News, Supply Chain News

FMI: Global Conflict, Rising Energy Costs Put Upward Pressure On Food Prices

Cargo ships stalled in the Strait of Hormuz. Fertilizer prices that have effectively doubled for American farmers. A Sierra Nevada snowpack that never materialized. The pressures bearing down on the U.S. food supply chain in 2026 are coming from multiple directions at once – and according to experts from FMI – The Food Industry Association, […]

Posted inFinance News, Grocery Research, National, News

Circana’s Purchase To Consumption Tool Highlights $100M Opportunity Gap

Circana has rolled out its Purchase to Consumption solution, a tool that links verified purchase behaviors from the company’s receipt panel with National Eating Trends (NET) consumption behaviors from the same consumers. The solution provides the consumer packaged goods industry with what Circana calls a “holistic” understanding of the food and beverage journey. It closes […]

Posted inFinance News, Featured News, Grocery Research, National, News

NRF: Retail Sales Rose For Seventh Consecutive Month In April

Retail sales grew for the seventh straight month in April despite rising gas prices and persistent inflation, according to the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor released May 13 by the National Retail Federation. Total retail sales, excluding automobile dealers and gasoline stations, rose 0.34 percent month over month on a seasonally adjusted basis and 5.73 percent year […]

Posted inGrocery Research, Costco Wholesale, Featured News, National, News

5WPR Index Finds Costco Tops AI Citation Rankings, Walmart Trails

Costco emerged atop 5WPR’s 2026 U.S. Grocery Retail AI Visibility Index, the first to rank U.S. grocers by how frequently they are cited inside artificial intelligence-generated answers. The warehouse club retailer was cited most often when American shoppers ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews where to buy their groceries. Trader Joe’s ranked second, […]

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Upside Report Reveals A Growing Income Divide In Consumer Spending

Upside’s new report “The Income Divide” reveals that high- and low-income consumers are making fundamentally different decisions about where and how much to spend. The findings, drawn from more than 10 billion transactions and surveys of 3,500-plus shoppers, show consumer behavior splits sharply at $75,000 in household income. Above that threshold, consumers report increased spending […]

Posted inGrocery Research, Featured News, National, News

Whole Foods Leads Newsweek’s Most Trustworthy Grocery Companies List

Newsweek released its 2026 Most Trustworthy Companies in America rankings, with Whole Foods Market topping the grocery and convenience store category, followed by The Kroger Co. at second. The list recognizes 31 grocery and convenience store operators across the country and reflects a mix of national chains, regional players and independent operators that have built […]

Posted inFinance News, Featured News, Grocery Research, National, News

Ibotta Outlook: Shoppers Reallocate Spend Heading Into Summer 2026

A new 2026 Summer Outlook from Ibotta finds that the summer shopping season is starting weeks before Memorial Day, with shoppers reallocating spend away from convenience and discretionary categories toward staples and at-home consumption. The report draws on Ibotta receipt data across millions of purchases, supplemented by a survey of 500 consumers about their plans […]

Posted inGrocery Research, Featured News, National, News

84.51° Report: Online Shopping Grows But In-Store Remains The Default

A new Consumer Digest report from 84.51°, the retail data science arm of Kroger, examines how omnichannel shoppers move between an array of options to fulfill their grocery orders. The report finds that there have never been more ways to buy groceries. Modern shopping habits mean consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies must plan around blended […]