Americans shop around to save on groceries. While the 'one-stop shop' might be gone, one store is a favorite.

Grocery sticker shock has many consumers searching
for the best deals. (Adobe Stock photo)

Which store do bargain-shopping Americans go to for all the best prices? None. The new trend in grocery shopping is more like "stop-at-lots-of-stores" to save. "With groceries taking up the highest percentage of household budgets in 30 years, more shoppers are driving all over town in pursuit of deals," reports Rachel Wolfe of The Wall Street Journal. "Consumers bought groceries from an average of 20.7 different retailers between March 2023 and February 2024, according to data firm Numerator, up 23% from the same months between 2019 and 2020."

In addition to visiting more locations, people are using coupons from various retailers to fight costs. "Roughly two-thirds of the 8,017 American consumers surveyed by retail marketing firm Advantage Solutions this past fall said they now lean heavily on in-store coupons before or during their shopping trips," Wolfe reports. "Grocery shoppers are making 8% more trips than they did last year, says consulting firm AlixPartners, and buying fewer items at each stop."

While some food retailers are working to point shoppers toward purchasing their private label or store brands, which are generally cheaper, another retailer, Aldi, is reaping the benefits of being smaller and more affordable than its competitors. "The grocery chain known for low prices and a 25-cent deposit to access a shopping cart has emerged as an inflation winner over the past year," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "Shoppers' fatigue with soaring food prices at grocery-store chains is steering more customers toward Aldi."

Aldi's operations aim to be as lean as its pricing. With this model, Aldi's is growing. Thomas writes, "The company has been adding about 100 stores a year over the past decade and plans to roughly double that pace, adding 800 stores nationwide by the end of 2028 as part of a $9 billion expansion plan."

Despite Aldi's smaller store size and fewer shelf options, the company is a tough competitor. "Foot traffic at Aldi stores in March was up about 26% compared with the prior year and higher than the 6% increase at rival Kroger stores and the 15% uptick at Trader Joe’s, according to mobile-device location data from analytics company Placer.ai," Thomas reports. "The discount chain has been in the U.S. for decades, but its overall share of U.S. grocery sales is still small — about 3%. . . Privately held Aldi doesn’t report its U.S. revenue."