Legend has it that when seeing an apple fall to the ground, a young Isaac Newton realizes there must be some force pulling the apple toward the earth. Calling this force gravity, Newton describes its principles with a simple, memorable adage: “What goes up must come down.” Still, while the law of gravity bears Newton’s name, many of today’s physicists point to another Newton law as key: “Every action has an equal, opposite reaction.” At any rate, it seems either law applies to today’s grocery channel, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to a major shift in shopping habits.
In fact, Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI) data shows the grocery’s channel share to be 46.5% in October 2021, down from 49.1% in 2020. Meanwhile, channels gaining share include eCommerce and club.