Sixty-four percent of U.S. consumers said that grocery stores are not doing a good job with COVID-19, according to the eighth wave of dunnhumby’s Consumer Pulse Survey. In addition, 83 percent indicated that the government isn’t doing a good job either, making it the lowest point of confidence in the government’s handling of the crisis, said the firm.
Consumers’ concerns with grocery stores span from worries that things are not returning to normal (76 percent), unvaccinated shoppers are in the stores (34 percent), and more than one in four is still "extremely worried" about the virus (26 percent). Although 21 percent said there was no store that provides good value for the money, Walmart continues to be cited as providing the best value (29 percent), with Aldi (12 percent), Kroger (7 percent), and Target (6 percent) following respectively. Amazon fell out of the top five stores for value and landed with 4 percent.
“After living with the pandemic for 20 months, consumers are now twice as concerned about their personal finances as they are about COVID itself. With inflation persisting, and government stimulus’ phased out, the majority of shoppers are now looking for greater value,” said Grant Steadman, president for North America at dunnhumby, in a statement. “Retailers who are perceived as offering more value, and respond to their customers increasing need for this, will earn the loyalty of the new customers they gained during the early phases of the pandemic.”
Related: Report: CPG Category Faces Continued Supply Chain, Labor Challenges; Report: Vaccine, Mask Requirements Help Shoppers Feel Safe.