{"id":774750,"date":"2026-08-25T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&#038;p=774750"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:50:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T20:50:46","slug":"grocery-shoppers-are-visiting-more-but-stocking-up-less","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/grocery-shoppers-are-visiting-more-but-stocking-up-less","title":{"rendered":"Grocery Shoppers Are Visiting More\u2014But Stocking Up Less"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10862],"tags":[281,471991,1161,238001],"department":[488812],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-774750","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-esri","tag-location-intelligence","tag-market-analysis","tag-retail","tag-site-selection","department-emerging-technologies"],"acf":{"short_description":"Short grocery shopping trips are replacing weekly stock-ups. Location insight helps retailers decode what that means for them.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"A few years ago, the weekly grocery run was a reliable engine of foot traffic for nonfood retailers across the US. A shopper would arrive on Saturday morning and push a cart through the aisles for an hour or so, then visit the pharmacy, the sporting goods store, or the dry cleaner. The math was simple: one long trip, multiple stops."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Left","content":"<strong>Snapshot:<\/strong> New Kantar data shows we\u2019re changing the way we shop for groceries\u2014a shift with implications for more than just food chains.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"That math is changing, and it has implications for how businesses operate storefronts and plan new ones.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dbbnwa.com\/kantar-data-shows-grocery-shoppers-moving-away-from-stocking-up\">New data<\/a> from market research firm Kantar shows that large stock-up grocery trips accounted for just a third of store visits in the first quarter of 2026, down from 39\u00a0percent in 2021. During the same period, same-day consumption trips\u2014quick runs to pick up dinner ingredients or a forgotten household item\u2014climbed to 30\u00a0percent of visits from 21\u00a0percent. Fill-in trips (the small midweek corrective purchases) now represent the largest single category at 37\u00a0percent.\r\n\r\nFor the regional pharmacy chain, the national coffee brand, or the fitness franchise sharing a parking lot with a grocery store, this shift resurrects an important question: What kind of shopper is walking past our front door?\r\n\r\nLocation analytics\u2014and the <a href=\"https:\/\/mediaspace.esri.com\/media\/What%20is%20GIS%20-%20Business%20Edition\/1_kdp4dvev\">GIS technology<\/a> that powers it\u2014offers a way to answer that question.\r\n<h3><strong>Two Shoppers, Two Different Opportunities<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAs the grocery experience shifts toward shorter, more purposeful trips, nearby retailers may find that their share of shoppers\u2019 attention quietly erodes.\r\n\r\nLocation data offers a way to understand what\u2019s really happening. A GIS analyst can use footfall data to explore which types of consumers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/nexttech-to-close-or-not-to-close-this-store-your-gis-analyst-has-ideas\">visit shopping destinations<\/a>. A site with a neighboring grocery store that draws primarily high-income households for long shopping trips represents a very different opportunity than one that draws middle-income earners who arrive and depart in 10\u00a0minutes."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"<strong>Related Read:<\/strong>\r\n\r\nTug-of-war for grocery and discount <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/nexttech-grocery-discount\">shoppers<\/a>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"For business leaders who manage existing portfolios, knowing how consumers\u2019 behavior is changing can spur operational adjustments. A location that mainly draws short-errand grocery visitors might introduce promotions focused on speed and convenience\u2014quick-pickup offers and loyalty incentives timed to high-frequency shopping days\u2014rather than in-store experiences designed for browsers.\r\n\r\nLocation technology reveals the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/psychographics-inside-story\">psychographic<\/a> and income profile of the surrounding neighborhood, helping business leaders create a data-backed strategy.\r\n<h3><strong>Understanding What the Shift Means Before Signing a Lease<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe Kantar data\u2014combined with location intelligence\u2014could be equally valuable for retailers or commercial real estate companies evaluating potential locations.\r\n\r\nCotenancy with a grocery store has long been treated as a favorable signal in site selection, since it implies a built-in customer base. But the new numbers on shopping habits suggest that the economics of that traffic\u2014not just its volume\u2014are changing. A site near a grocery store that generates 5,000 weekly visits averaging 10 minutes promises a different investment profile than one generating 3,000 visits of 35-minute duration.\r\n\r\nOne national wellness franchise included elements of this calculus in its expansion strategy. As <em>WhereNext<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/market-analysis-and-expansion\">reported<\/a>, the company used location analytics to score shopping centers on cotenancy suitability\u2014flagging retailers associated with health-conscious habits and grading trade areas based on the concentration of core customer personas.\r\n\r\nFor retailers evaluating new leases or renewals near grocery stores, location technology can simulate what a continued shift toward short, purposeful grocery trips might mean for each candidate site. Demographic and psychographic analysis of the surrounding trade area can confirm whether a given grocery store draws the kind of shopper who lingers.\r\n\r\nFor retailers with fortunes tied to the traffic patterns of neighboring stores, location analytics is not a set-it-and-forget-it exercise. As Kantar\u2019s data reminds us, some consumer habits change often, and only the business that regularly studies location data can keep up."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Retail Site Selection: Shifting Grocery Traffic Patterns<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As short grocery trips replace weekly stock-ups, technology can help retailers understand what shifting foot traffic means for operations and site selection.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/grocery-shoppers-are-visiting-more-but-stocking-up-less\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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