Consumer confidence going into 2025 was already shaky, and this past year did little to stabilize it.

Lower-income consumers, particularly those currently shut out of homeownership due to high home prices and mortgage rates, are trying to do more with less. At the same time, higher income shoppers are also making more price-conscious choices, shopping savings-driven retailers in large numbers. Lastly, your average homeowner and those with stock and retirement portfolios might be feeling a little wealthier, due to high home values and the strong stock market, pushing them to take an extra trip or two to premium retailers for small indulgences.

Pursuit of these “little luxuries”, heightening financial worry, combined with the sharpening differentiation of grocery value propositions at the high and low end of the landscape (more on that later in this report) results in increased pressure on undifferentiated regional supermarkets.

With savings and value becoming more important to consumers, retailers are at a crossroads: how can they maintain the value of the physical store while still keeping up with retail trends?

Many of the headlines this year focused on tech, like AI, and its disruptive potential in grocery. However, this report will reveal how retailers better positioned on the core of the grocery value proposition (strong assortment at affordable prices, with a solid in-store experience) are the ones strengthening their ability to drive long-term market share growth. Digital capabilities, meanwhile, are more and more just becoming table stakes.

Building trust with the American shopper has never been more important. This report will uncover the key value proposition drivers that winning retailers are using to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of their shoppers, and how you can rethink your strategy for long-term growth.