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U.S. grocery slowdown deepens as shoppers buy fewer items, raising pressure on food companies (www.cnbc.com)

submitted 1 day ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/economy@lemmy.world

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The U.S. grocery slowdown is becoming harder to ignore.

Shoppers are buying fewer items than a year ago, and grocery sales are declining as weakening unit sales are now outweighing rising prices. That is according to new analysis from Bain & Company using NielsenIQ grocery data shared exclusively with CNBC.

Grocery units, which refer to individual items or products sold, fell 1.8% in June from a year earlier, a sharp reversal from the 0.1% year-over-year growth recorded in June 2025. While prices continue to rise about 2% to 3% year-over-year, that inflation cushion for the industry is no longer enough to keep overall sales growing.

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[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Gotta love the Kroger merger that they did to try to corner the market only for everyone to just go to Aldi instead

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

The prices at Kroger owned stores in SoCal are absolutely insane, regularly 30% more than Aldi and 20% more than TJ's. Occasionally I'll run in for a item or two and every single time feel like they've picked my pocket, pulled down my pants and pushed me out of the store while laughing at me.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It's interesting how different locations vary. Kroger is definitely one of the cheaper stores in Washington state. Safeway/Albertson's is astronomically expensive here.

[–] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

A cursory check of a few items at Ralphs in SoCal vs Fred Meyer in Seattle show prices are substantially higher in SoCal for common items. For instance a jar of mayo is 15.5% more in SoCal. Other items I've checked have been at least 10% more expensive.

It isn't my imagination - they are laughing at us.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Now I’m curious how Safeway prices in Seattle compare to SoCal prices.

Our cost of living isn’t that different necessarily, though it’s been a while since I actually compared.

[–] HeyJoe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Isn't it always interesting how the most expensive stores are the closest ones... for me it's Stop n Shop. Aldi is like a 20 min drive for me along with the other lower priced stores. I try to plan it out so I do most of my shopping at them, but just like you say you always gotta hit the other one for a few items you may need, forgot, or missed and it sucks.

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The Kroger/Albertson's merger was blocked.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Had no idea tbh. Kind of assumed it went through when everyone stopped talking about it and the rest of the world went to shit anyway

[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Albertsons and Kroger immediately moved to sue each other over the lost money. They’re still scrambling to an extent and Albertson’s took a real loss.