Do grocery lists reflect sales activity?

Since mid-March, CPGs and their measurement partners have reported various disruptions to year-over-year consumption by grocery shoppers. While some products have seen drops in popularity, others have seen significant booms as consumers adjust to a home-centered lifestyle.

Grocery list data offers the opportunity to confirm whether the shopping habits of mobile app users reflect sales data and answer questions about what’s happening in categories as a whole.

INDUSTRY REPORTS

UNILEVER’S DEODORANT AND ICE CREAM PERFORMANCE

Unilever recently announced that demand for personal care items had dropped, but that the decrease had been offset by ice cream and prepared food consumption.

Within AdAdapted’s network of grocery list apps, shoppers add-to-list behavior reflects the observed sales data announced by Unilever. Deodorant consumption remains below 2019 levels, while ice cream is still enjoying a significant boost.

NIELSEN’S DATA ON HARD SELTZER

Following the July 4 holiday week, Nielsen announced that the hard seltzer category had its strongest sales week ever. Off-premise dollar sales were reported to be up 134%, with White Claw and Truly making up 70% of the category growth.

These leading brands experienced visible growth over the holiday in AdAdapted’s grocery list app network; both White Claw and Truly saw a holiday spike and increased Add-to-List activity over 2019 levels.

MONDELEZ EVALUATES EATING HABITS

In April, Mondelez revealed that shoppers were buying more chips, popcorn, cheese, and bakery products, and that consumers had been indulging in both chocolate and soda at heightened rates.

Not only does grocery list data confirm the April trends observed by Mondelez, but it also indicates that shoppers have continued to add these items to their lists in lieu of out-of-home consumption at work or restaurants.

TAKEAWAYS FOR ADVERTISERS

Considering that the add-to-list habits of grocery list app users closely reflect purchase data, advertisers can consider using insights like these in the following ways.

• Observe the progress of category and adjacent products: While advertisers may not have sales data on complementary products, they can use add-to-list behavior to determine whether other items in their categories are performing similarly
• Determine how the brand is doing in real time: Sales data doesn’t come back to brands immediately, but AdAdapted offers the ability to see what grocery shoppers are adding in real time. These insights offer brands the flexibility to make decisions regarding ad spend and promotion in real time.
• Observe the performance of competitors: While competitive brands won’t give up sales numbers for obvious reasons, CPGs can use list behavior to evaluate how they’re performing among grocery shoppers

AdAdapted’s real-time trends can help you develop your brand strategy to be as flexible as is needed to meet the demands of our ever-changing 2020 outlook.

For more information on how to use list behavior to evaluate current trends and predict future category performance visit https://www.adadapted.com and request a demo.

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