摩根摩尔的杂货账单高得离谱。所以她开始远离名牌，购买更多沃尔玛自有品牌的
Great Value。
德克萨斯州吉尔默的自由平面设计师在最近的一次旅行中想购买培根，但“只是走开了”，因为它太贵了。 11 月份培根价格比上月上涨 2.3%，每年上涨 17.8%。
Moore 也开始更频繁地在 Dollar General 购物，购买基本的肉类、奶制品和鸡蛋。她发现那里的价格“便宜了一点，但仍然没有我希望的那么便宜。”
食品杂货价格上涨给许多美国人的杂货预算带来压力，迫使他们改变购买食品和必需品的方式。
上个月，食品杂货价格比一年前上涨了 6.4%，这是十多年来食品通胀的最快速度。一些购物者的回应是减少在商店购买的产品数量，转而购买价格较低的自有品牌。根据公司、市场数据、公众调查和客户访谈。其他人则转向更便宜的商店。
“这是一种挤压，”犹他州盐湖城的教师马特·拉尔森 (Matt Larson) 说，他在克罗格 (Kroger) 和好市多 (Costco) 为妻子和四个孩子购物。
他说，这个家庭的预算已经从扩大的联邦儿童税收抵免和学校为孩子们提供的免费午餐中获得了一些喘息的空间。但拉森大约每个月购买一次碎牛肉，而不是每周一次，并且购买的牛奶更少。
11 月碎牛肉价格较上月上涨 0.9%，年均上涨 13.9%，而牛奶价格 11 月上涨 0.9%，年均上涨 4.5%。
“很难在牛肉上花那么多钱，”拉森说。
这个家庭在地下室存放了额外的豆类、小麦、面粉和其他耐贮藏物品，他们正在转向这种安全库存，以帮助度过近 40 年来的最高通货膨胀率。
“我们依靠我们所拥有的，而不是出去购买更多，”他说。
买便宜的食物
购物者在结账通道感到痛苦，他们说他们不会再等太久了。
市场研究术语 Numerator 9 月底对 14,000 多名消费者进行的一项调查发现，20% 的消费者表示，如果价格继续上涨，他们会转向更便宜的品牌。 17% 的人表示他们会更换零售商，10% 的人表示他们会减少购买频率。 11% 的受访购物者表示他们不会改变他们的购买模式。
根据领先超市、大型卖场、批发俱乐部和其他购物渠道的 IRI 销售点数据，在截至 11 月 28 日的四个星期内，前 100 名食品类别中 78% 的销售额较去年同期下降。更高的价格往往会导致销量下降——销售的产品数量。
早餐肉类、牛奶、鸡蛋、麦片、冰淇淋、新鲜面包、海鲜和葡萄酒的销量每年下降幅度最大。
尽管许多消费者从工资上涨、大流行期间的多轮联邦刺激措施以及扩大的食品券和儿童税收抵免福利中获得提振，但有迹象表明价格上涨正在改变他们的购买模式。
Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) 首席执行官 Jack Sinclair 上个月在分析师电话会议上表示，“我们已经看到客户对肉类价格的一些阻力”。 “我们已经看到一些交易下降”蛋白质。
切换到折扣店
IRI 战略分析总裁 KK Davey 表示，过去，客户通过减少购买准备好的餐点和甜点、在月初囤货并在折扣连锁店购物更多来应对更高的价格或更严峻的经济状况。
沃尔玛 (WMT)、Dollar General (DG)、Dollar Tree (DLTR)、Grocery Outlet (GO)、Costco (COST) 和 BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) 等折扣杂货店的领导者最近几周表示，客户注意到更高的价格并改变他们的购物行为。这些公司表示，它们处于有利地位，可以吸引希望扩大预算的价格敏感型客户。
Costco 财务主管 Richard Galanti 上周在分析师电话会议上表示，这种通胀水平“对我们有所帮助，因为我们拥有的价值主张”。
上个月，Dollar Tree 首席执行官迈克尔·威廷斯基 (Michael Witynski) 在分析师电话会议上表示，客户“正在感受到通货膨胀”。 “我认为现在，他们将比以往任何时候都更加依赖巨大的价值。”
东北地区的区域连锁超市 Tops Markets 预计，随着食品制造商在 2022 年 1 月提高价格，购物者将寻找更多便宜货。
Tops 中心商店商品、自有品牌和药房副总裁克里斯汀汉森在一封电子邮件中表示，成本增加和供应限制“将影响消费者的购物和选择方式”。 “我们怀疑转向低价商品，”其中许多将是 Tops 的自有品牌。
Rising grocery prices force customers to buy less, change brands and switch stores
Morgan Moore's grocery bills are sky-high. So she has started to stay away from name brands and buy more of Walmart's Great Value private-label brand.
The freelance graphic designer in Gilmer, Texas, wanted to buy bacon on a recent trip, but "just walked away" because it was too expensive. Bacon prices increased 2.3% in November from the previous month and has surged 17.8% annually.
Moore has also started shopping more frequently at Dollar General for basic meats, dairy and eggs. Prices there, she has found, "are a little bit cheaper, but still not as cheap as I'd like them to be."
Higher prices for groceries are putting pressure on many Americans' grocery budgets, forcing them to change how they shop for food and essentials.
Last month, grocery prices were 6.4% higher than they were a year ago, the fastest pace of food inflation in more than a decade. Some shoppers are responding by trimming the number of products they're buying at the store and trading down to less-expensive private-label brands. according to companies, market data, public surveys and interviews with customers. Others are switching to cheaper stores.
"It's a squeeze," said Matt Larson, a teacher in Salt Lake City, Utah, who shops for his wife and their four children at Kroger and Costco.
The family's budget has gotten some breathing room from the expanded federal child tax credit and free lunches at school for the kids, he said. But Larson is buying ground beef around once a month, instead of every week, and purchasing less milk.
Ground beef prices increased 0.9% in November from the month prior and 13.9% annually while milk prices were up 0.9% in November and 4.5% annually.
"It's hard to spend that much more on beef," Larson said.
The family keeps extra beans, wheat, flour and other shelf-stable items in the basement, and it is turning to this safety stock to help ride out the highest rate of inflation in nearly 40 years.
"We're relying on what we have and not going out to buy more," he said.
Buying cheaper food
Shoppers are feeling the pain at the checkout aisle, and they say they're not going to take it much longer.
A late September survey of more than 14,000 consumers by market research term Numerator found that 20% said they would switch to cheaper brands if prices continued to rise. Seventeen percent said they would switch retailers and 10% said they would buy less frequently. Eleven percent of shoppers surveyed said they would not change their buying patterns.
Sales volume in 78% of the top 100 food categories declined during the four weeks ending November 28 from the same time a year ago, according to IRI point of sale data at leading supermarkets, big box stores, wholesale clubs and other shopping channels. Higher prices tend to lead to a decline in sales volume — the number of products sold.
Breakfast meats, milk, eggs, cereal, ice cream, fresh bread, seafood and wine saw the steepest volume declines annually.
Although many consumers have gotten a boost from rising wages, rounds of federal stimulus during the pandemic, and expanded food stamp and child tax credit benefits, there are signs that rising prices are changing their buying patterns.
"We have seen some resistance" from customers to prices on premium cuts of meat, Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) CEO Jack Sinclair said on an analyst call last month. "We've seen some trading down" on proteins.
Switching to discount stores
In the past, customers have responded to higher prices or tougher economic conditions by buying fewer prepared meals and deserts, stocking up at the beginning of the month and shopping more at discount chains, said KK Davey, IRI's president of strategic analytics.
Leaders at discount grocers such as Walmart (WMT), Dollar General (DG), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Grocery Outlet (GO), Costco (COST) and BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) have said in recent weeks that customers are noticing the higher prices and changing their shopping behavior. These companies say they are positioned well to attract price-sensitive customers looking to stretch their budgets.
This level of inflation "helps us a little because of the value proposition that we have," Costco finance chief Richard Galanti said on an analyst call last week.
Customers "are feeling the inflation," said Dollar Tree CEO Michael Witynski on an analyst call last month. "I think right now, more than ever, they are going to be relying on great value."
Tops Markets, a regional supermarket chain in the northeast, expects shoppers to seek out more bargains as food manufacturers raise prices in January 2022.
Cost increases and supply constraints "will impact how consumers shop and select," Kristen Hanson, the vice president of Tops' center store merchandise, private-label brands and pharmacy, said in an email. "We would suspect shifting into lower priced items," many of which will be Tops' private labels.
