We got another glimpse into consumer behaviors via Sean Connolly, chief executive officer of Conagra Brands Inc., who told analysts during a conference call Thursday that consumers are dialing back their food purchases.
“Now let’s talk headwinds. First, shifting consumer behavior,” Connolly said. He continued:
As you can see in the weekly scanner data, food companies are starting to wrap pricing in the year-ago period, and dollar sales are coming down as expected. But the rate of improvement in volume recovery is lagging. That suggests new consumer behavior shifts beyond the initial elasticity effects that occurred when pricing actions were initially taken. We’ve seen this dynamic since just after Easter, and it has been broad-based across many categories and competitors. And importantly, where we see it, it is usually not a trade down to lower priced alternatives within the category, rather, it’s an overall category slowdown.
