This Week in Retail: Enter the Dog Days

Goodbye July—hello August. The dog days of summer are here as we enter the lazy hazy final crazy days of the season.  

August is often referred to as the “Sunday of summer” and that perspective could bode well for retail sales as consumers seek to soak up the last few weeks of sunshine and outdoor activity before the school year resumes and the weather begins to transition again.

Beef is killing the retail game in recent weeks, taking the top weekly spot for protein feature volume during the entire month of July. Currently, beef ads account for 27 percent of circular real estate, beating out second placed seafood at 23 percent. Steak features make up about half...

This Week in Retail: Looking Ahead to Father’s Day Spending

Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, June 16^th, and retailers are prepping for the second big grilling holiday of the summer.

According to the National Retail Federation, Father’s Day spending in 2019 is expected to reach an all-time high of $16 billion. That’s up from last year’s $15.3 billion. This monumental spending figure still, however, pales in comparison to spending for Mother’s Day, coming in at a whopping $25 billion.

Mother’s Day has long been known as a foodservice holiday, but Father’s Day tends to favor grilling at home with some quality steaks, burgers, chops or ribs. The NRF also reports that spending for Father’s Day has grown 70 percent over the last decade, with special outings playing a big part of that growth, accounting for a projected $3.3 billion. With 76 percent of...

This Week in Retail: YOY Feature Price Comparison

It’s hard to believe there are only three weekends left to shop and prepare for Christmas. In the coming weeks, grocers will be pulling out all the stops to capitalize on consumer holiday spending.

Looking at buying opportunities in the current week, beef feature volume leads the protein pack with 25.2 percent. Seafood is a very close second with 24.7 percent, while pork claims 23.2 percent. Chicken accounts for 18.7 percent of feature volume.

In the beef complex, steak feature volume saw a larger week over week increase, with top sirloin taking the top spot with 19.1 percent. The average feature price for top sirloin this week is $6.02 per pound, which is up about 50 cents per pound from a year ago, and up from last week’s average of $5.24 per pound. However, more comparatively attractive year-over-year steak features can be found in...