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The contest for supermarket and grocery shelf space is heating up as brands—including lower-cost offerings from grocers themselves—vie for a shrinking number of spots in the aisles, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Grocers are decreasing both the number of items they stock and their overall physical space, says Steve Zurek, a vice president at consumer research firm NIQ, also known as NielsenIQ. Store brands are taking up more space on shelves as stretched consumers ditch name brands to cut their food costs, he adds
“This has put a tremendous amount of stress on shelves,” Zurek says.
In recent years, food companies were able to push through price increases on everything from eggs to coffee and milk to offset their own higher costs, but consumers now are looking for ways to cut grocery bills that have recently soared. In return, grocery stores are becoming more selective as they stock their shelves with an eye toward reining in prices for shoppers.
