The credit crunch is prompting US consumers to choose value items over high-end goods when purchasing fresh produce, according to preliminary results of a consumer research project compiled by Chicago-based market research agency The Perishables Group.
Initial analysis indicates trade-down behavior in high, mid, and low-priced items in the both meat and produce departments, the group said during a workshop at last week’s Southeast Produce Council Southern Exposure conference.
“In the produce department, high-priced items such as tangerines are being negatively impacted, while value items like grapefruit are benefiting,” explained Perishables Group president and CEO, Bruce Axtman. “Other categories seeing strong sales growth are bananas and grapes.
“Everyone has been affected by the economic downturn in one way or another,” Mr Axtman added. “Our objective for this consumer research project is to reach fact-based conclusions about how consumers are behaving as a result of the economic crisis, so we can turn that knowledge into actionable results to improve sales for retailers and suppliers throughout the fresh industry.”
In-depth results of the study will be presented at the upcoming United Fresh 2009 Convention on 21-24 April in Las Vegas.
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