Shoppers Face ‘Perturbing and Upsetting’ Grocery Price Hikes

Inflation is pressuring American grocery shoppers, leading many to cut back and trade down.

“It’s perturbing and upsetting,” Mark Bookbinder, a 68-year-old engineer who lives in Cincinnati, told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in a report posted Wednesday (Oct. 15) on the trend.

The WSJ report added that Bookbinder has been struck by ongoing increases in the price of things like cereal, sliced turkey and yogurt.

Meanwhile, Albertsons CEO Susan Morris said on an earnings call this week shoppers were opting for smaller package sizes and employing more coupons to bring down their grocery bills. She said the supermarket company is looking to reduce costs to help offset inflation.

“We see them sticking closer to their shopping list, maybe not buying that extra item, that extra bottle of whatever,” Morris said.

The release of September inflation data from the Labor Department has been delayed until next week due to the government shutdown, the WSJ added. Inflation this year has been well below the wave of pandemic-induced price hikes in 2022, when it reached its highest level in four decades. However, August’s inflation numbers showed grocery price inflation picking up.

Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Mondelez International, which makes snack brands such as Oreo, said consumers haven’t increased their spending for two and a half years, even as prices have risen, which means that they are buying less.

“They have no inclination to increase their spending,” Van de Put said. “They’re unsure about what’s going to happen, when those tariff effects really are going to hit them.”

Rising commodity prices are helping fuel some of the increases, including the price of American beef, the report added. Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have also driven up the cost of importing goods ranging from Spanish olive oil to shrimp from Vietnam. Some of these costs have been absorbed by food companies, while others are being passed on to shoppers.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence earlier this year showed the impact tariffs were having on grocery shoppers.

According to “Stock Out. The Impact of Tariffs on Consumer Product Prices and Availability,” 22% of all consumers — and 31% of those living paycheck to paycheck — reported being unable to purchase food items because they were out of stock or no longer sold in the U.S.

Another 39% of shoppers who had encountered missing clothing and apparel were informed that tariffs were the culprit, while another 33% were given the less clear explanation of “supply chain issues.”