New findings from 210 Analytics and Circana revealed traditional supermarkets have lost favor over the past four years as competitors like club stores and mass merchants have grabbed market share.
This change has occurred as consumers have gravitated to value-focused merchants, visited more retailers, and switched stores in response to inflation, according to analyses of the data by 210 Analytics. This shift is also apparent across a range of key grocery categories, the company found.
For instance, traditional supermarkets accounted for 39.8% of meat sales in 2023, compared with 23.3% for mass retailers and supercenters, and 12.4% for club retailers. In the refrigerated seafood department, traditional grocers had 36.8% of sales last year, while mass retailers and supercenters accounted for 6.4% and 21.2% for club retailers. according to 210 Analytics and Circana.
While traditional supermarkets still command larger shares of those categories, retail competitors are gaining ground. The erosion has been ongoing since 2019 and it is especially pronounced in the meat and refrigerated seafood departments according to the data.
Supermarkets shed about three percentage points of share in both those categories between 2019 and 2023, while mass retailers and supercenters saw their portions of the categories increase by more than two percentage points over the same time period.
Market share has also been lost by traditional grocery stores in the bakery, deli and produce categories over the past four years as mass retailers, supercenters and club retailers either drew a larger proportion of the market or sales remained steady in those categories.