The great supermarket souring: Why Americans are mad at grocery stores
Published 11 a.m. ET Sept. 25,2024
American consumers may be souring on supermarkets.
In a recent Gallup poll, only 33% of Americans said they have a positive view of the grocery industry. That figure, published in September, is the lowest recorded in more than two decades of polling.
Analysts cite two big reasons for sinking public opinion of supermarkets: Rising prices and bad press.
Grocery prices are up by about 25% since before the pandemic. Food inflation has slowed, but surveys show consumers are still sensitive to rising prices.
Likely in response to public outcry over inflation, politicians have been assailing the grocery industry. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris recently called out supermarkets for price-gouging. President Joe Biden chided the food industry for “shrinkflation” in his State of the Union address. The Federal Trade Commission accused grocery chains of exploiting product shortages to reap more profits. And even Cookie Monster weighed in on supermarket prices. Not long ago, Americans loved supermarkets
The erosion in public opinion of the grocery industry is all the more striking because, just a few years ago, Americans loved their supermarkets.
Gallup pollsters have been asking Americans for their views on the grocery industry since 2001. Public sentiment reached a peak in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when 63% of consumers held positive views of the industry. That was a time when much of the nation was avoiding restaurants, eating at home and relying more on supermarkets for sustenance.
“When people walked in a supermarket, they really felt that the supermarket was taking care of them, was going out of their way,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst.