Consumers Trade Down from Restaurants to Grocery Store Prepared Meals

The downturn in the economy is straining discretionary spending for families, forcing many to cut back on restaurant meals and substantially scale-back projected holiday shopping.

In a recent Nielsen research report forecasting the upcoming holiday season, consumers reported that practical gifts will dominate shopping lists this year and food items and gift cards to grocery stores will be big sellers.

Price-focused retailers profit from crunch

Aldi and the other discounters continue to up their share
Year-on-year growth at Aldi has hit a record 23.9 per cent in the 12 weeks to November 2, 2008 – reflecting the onward march of retailers with a strong price positioning, according to the latest figures from TNS Worldpanel.

The total discounter sector – Aldi, Lidl and Netto – now stands at a record 6.2 per cent market share for the 12-week period.

10 standout supermarket chains

By Pamela Paul
From Health magazine

Food Retailing’s New Battleground: Small Format Stores

What happened to the so-called British Invasion? You know the one where Tesco’s Fresh & Easy small-format food stores were going to sweep across America and turn this country’s food retailing industry on its head. The end of October will see the one-year anniversary of Fresh & Easy’s first store opening in Hemet, California. Since that time, Tesco has opened approximately 50 more stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. The results, by just about any industry accounting or reporting, have been less than stellar.