Dive Brief:
- Walmart’s grocery penetration reached a record-breaking 72%, fueled by financial insecurity among U.S. adults under the age of 55, according to Dunnhumby’s latest Consumer Trends Tracker.
- The mass retailer channel matched traditional supermarket penetration at 79% for the first time, Dunnhumby’s quarterly study found, a stat that represents a “shift of millions of consumers changing shopping patterns.”
- While inflation has moderated, consumers remain increasingly sensitive to prices and the search for affordable groceries is heavily shaping their shopping behaviors, Dunnhumby found.
Dive Insight:
Walmart’s growth and the increasing momentum supercenters are seeing underscore the pressure traditional grocers are under as consumers remain price-conscious.
More than 57% of Dunnhumby’s survey respondents said they would have trouble covering an unexpected $400 expense, according to the report. So the low food prices that supercenters, discounters and dollar stores can offer consumers are increasingly threatening traditional grocers.
Walmart’s penetration rose 6 percentage points year-over-year — the largest growth among all retailers tracked by Dunnhumby. Mass-channel penetration has increased 5 percentage points since Dunnhumby’s first-ever CTT in April 2022, according to a press release from the data firm.
Meanwhile, dollar stores saw their penetration rise to 42%, overtaking club stores for the first time since August 2023 with major players Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar each gaining 4 to 6 percentage points year-over-year, per the report.
“What makes this different from the 2023 inflation spike is that consumer concern persists even as actual inflation moderates,” Matt O’Grady, president of the Americas for Dunnhumby, said in a statement. “The consumer is just not feeling it. Where they shop, how they use coupons, even how they adopt AI—everything aligns to saving money.”
As a result, consumers can’t “just snap back” to their previous shopping behaviors, O’Grady said, noting that grocery affordability becomes a top priority when food insecurity is entrenched.
U.S. consumers currently perceive food inflation to be at nearly 20% — more than eight times the actual rate of 2.4% in December 2025, Dunnhumby reported.
Dunnhumby interviewed 8,500 grocery shoppers across the U.S. as well as Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Chile in December 2025 for its latest Consumer Tracking Trends report.
