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IRI Study Finds Financial Hardship Fueling New Consumer Shopping Patterns and Channel Migration

CHICAGO-(Business Wire)-September 4, 2008 - Consumers are balancing the need to save money on consumer packaged goods with the need to conserve gas, so they are turning to supercenters to make fewer and larger shopping trips. Information Resources, Inc.’s latest research, “Times & Trends: Channel Migration 2008,” reveals that supercenters were the only store type to achieve sales gains across six key grocery retail department areas during the last year, while traditional grocery retailers showed declines in four of six departments. Furthermore, supercenters exhibited gains with all income levels and with three high-potential market segments, including baby boomers, Hispanics and households with kids.

How to respond to the supercenter’s growth poses a conundrum for all other store types. Some will try to “out-super” the supercenters by expanding assortments and lowering prices. Others will begin providing a more premium experience to attract higher-income shoppers. Still others will stay with their current market strategies and wait until better times return.

“Leaders throughout the retail spectrum know there is not one single answer to this retail challenge, and that securing the best information is the first step to developing an optimal new strategy,” says IRI President of Innovation and Consulting Thom Blischok. “’Best’ is more than just accurate information on shoppers’ assortment preferences, trip missions and related information. The latest IRI economic research will help both retailers and manufacturers gain access to and act upon that information quickly; not in weeks and months, but in hours and days.”

Select finding for the IRI study include:

Facing unprecedented financial burdens as gas, energy and CPG costs skyrocket simultaneously, consumers have made dramatic changes in where and how they shop
Consumers are balancing the need to save money on CPG products with the need to conserve gas; the result is fewer, larger trips
Supercenters have been the biggest beneficiaries of consumer change, securing sizable share gains across every major CPG department, across income and life stage segments and among heavy shoppers of competing channels
The grocery channel has lost ground across fresh/perishable, frozen and center store, including high-demand meal ingredient and meal component categories
Cross-channel competition has intensified for self-care products, which are experiencing rapid demand increases; drug stores and supercenters have secured the largest gains, but channel shifts vary by category

“With the economy not expected to rebound until at least the second quarter of 2009, there is ample time for consumers to become comfortable with their new shopping patterns, suggesting that these changes and the competitive ramifications could have some staying power,” adds Blischok.

About the Report

The Times & Trends report, “Channel Migration 2008,” is available from IRI, the leading global leading provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and insights for the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries. The findings of this report were compiled based on IRI Consumer Network^™ panel data. To download the report, visit http://us.infores.com/page/news/times_and_trends.

About Information Resources, Inc.

IRI is the world’s leading provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and insights supporting 95 percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare companies. Only IRI offers the unique combination of integrated market information, automated and predictive analytics, innovative enabling technologies, and domain expertise. With IRI, leading retailers and manufacturers are able to quickly discover breakthrough insights driving smarter decisions and actions across the enterprise for breakthrough results. Companies around the world depend on IRI for improved productivity, stronger brands, and dramatic revenue growth. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com.

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