Inflation Expected to Impact Thanksgiving Shopping for 78% of Consumers, Numerator Reports
CHICAGO, Nov 18, 2021 – Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, has published findings from a recent survey to understand the impact of inflation on Thanksgiving 2021. The survey was fielded this week (November 15) to understand how consumers are adjusting their Thanksgiving planning and shopping as grocery prices continue to rise.
Overall, 78% of consumers say rising prices will impact their Thanksgiving grocery shopping, with 37% expecting a significant impact.
- Turkey leads as the item expected to be most impacted by rising prices (71% of consumers), followed by Fresh Produce (62%), Meats & Seafood (58%), Baking Ingredients (42%), and Alcohol (37%).
- Nearly all respondents expected price increases on Thanksgiving categories, with only 2% of respondents not expecting an impact on the surveyed categories.
In response to rising prices, consumers expect to omit traditional Thanksgiving grocery items from their shopping baskets:
- Alcohol tops the list, with one quarter (25%) of respondents saying they expect to cut alcoholic beverages from this year’s shopping list.
- 14% of consumers say they will not purchase Turkey for Thanksgiving this year, and 16% will omit Meat & Seafood.
- Around 1 in 10 consumers plan to cut traditional items like Canned Pumpkin (13%), Desserts (12%), Fresh Produce (12%), Frozen Foods (11%), and Baking Ingredients (9%).
Consumers indicate they will make additional adjustments to their Thanksgiving planning and shopping, as a direct result of inflation:
- 1 in 5 (21%) say they will reduce the size of their Thanksgiving gathering due to rising prices.
- 16% plan to switch from traditional Thanksgiving recipes to more affordable options
- More than half (53%) will seek out promotions and coupons prior to shopping for Thanksgiving, and 43% plan to research prices ahead of time.
- More than one-third of consumers say that inflation will cause them to shop for Thanksgiving earlier than typical years (38%), switch to lower priced brands (37%), or shop at multiple retailers to find the best prices (36%).
The Numerator Thanksgiving Instant Survey was fielded to 350 grocery shoppers from last Thanksgiving from Numerator’s consumer purchase panel on 11/15/21. Instant Surveys are short surveys with immediate turnaround to produce fast, directional insights.
About Numerator
Numerator is a data and tech company bringing speed and scale to market research. Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Numerator has more than 2,600 employees worldwide. The company blends proprietary data with advanced technology to create unique insights for the market research industry that has been slow to change. The majority of Fortune 100 companies are Numerator clients.
