Sky-High Grocery Prices Strain Customer Loyalty

As food prices continue to inflate in the double digits year over year, customers of all income brackets are considering switching to lower-priced alternatives to their usual favorite grocery retailers.

By the Numbers

A national online study of 3,783 consumers conducted by PYMNTS this month found that nearly half (45%) of consumers say they’ll shop other grocery stores for better prices on the things they want to buy, too, including nearly 20% of those with incomes over $100,000 per year.

Related news: Why Retailers Should Worry About Inflation but Dread the Wealth Effect

The Data in Action

Noting this threat to customer loyalty, grocers are working harder to build relationships with their shoppers. Vivek Sankaran, CEO of U.S. grocery giant Albertsons Cos., emphasized the company’s affinity-building efforts on a call with analysts Tuesday (July 26) discussing the company’s first-quarter fiscal year 2022 earnings results.

“Everything we’re doing is driving stickiness,” Sankaran said. “When we get a customer, we want to engage them, keep them, get them to spend more with us, and what’s helping us do that is the digital engagement that they have in the eCommerce business that continues to grow. Once we get them, we’re able to personalize and keep them.”