Consumers are becoming increasingly selective about what stays in their grocery baskets, creating new challenges for retailers and manufacturers

ATLANTA, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Consumers are making more deliberate choices about what stays in their grocery baskets as rising costs, evolving eating habits and broader economic uncertainty influence purchasing decisions, according to new research released today by RELEX Solutions.

The RELEX State of Supply Chain Consumer Pulse survey of 1,000 consumers across the U.S. and U.K. found that 61% have changed how much food they purchase due to higher grocery prices. Nearly half (46%) have cut back on snacks and junk food, 39% have reduced beef purchases and 34% have cut back on alcohol. At the same time, 68% say fresh groceries remain worth paying more for and 49% say the same for household essentials, suggesting consumers continue to prioritize freshness even as they make tradeoffs elsewhere in their grocery baskets.

According to the data, consumers are not reducing spending uniformly across grocery categories. Instead, they are making different tradeoffs based on price, value, health priorities and household budgets, creating a more complex demand environment for retailers and manufacturers.

Additional findings include:

• 54% say lower prices are the single most important action retailers can take to help consumers manage rising costs
• 49% are closely monitoring beef prices as an indicator of their overall cost of living
• 39% say efforts to reduce food waste are influencing how much food they purchase
• 37% say healthier eating habits are influencing purchasing decisions
• 10% say GLP-1s or other appetite-affecting medications have influenced how much food they purchase
• 71% are cooking at home more often than they were a year ago

Consumers Expect Price Pressures to Continue

The survey found that broader economic concerns continue to influence purchasing behavior. More than seven in 10 consumers (71%) are concerned that tariffs, geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and other global events will continue increasing the cost of everyday goods over the next six months.

Those concerns are already influencing how consumers shop:

• 51% stock up during promotions
• 47% have switched to private-label products
• 40% shop at discount retailers more often
• 38% visit multiple stores to find the best prices

Consumers are also actively adjusting purchasing habits to manage household budgets while continuing to prioritize products they view as most important. At the same time, products feeling smaller or lower quality ranked as the second-biggest shopping frustration overall, highlighting continued awareness of shrinkflation and value.

Why These Shifts Matter for Retailers and Manufacturers

The consumer findings align closely with trends identified in RELEX’s 2026 State of Supply Chain report, which found organizations continue to face significant challenges related to inflation, tariffs, demand volatility and changing consumer preferences.

According to the report:

• 86% of organizations report being impacted by tariffs and trade policy changes
• 40% cite customer demand fluctuations as a major disruption
• 34% say demand volatility is complicating planning decisions
• 30% of retailers say adapting to changing consumer demand is a significant challenge

As consumer purchasing patterns continue to evolve, retailers and manufacturers face increasing pressure to accurately forecast demand, align inventory and assortment decisions, and respond to changing purchasing patterns. What makes the current environment challenging is that demand is not moving uniformly. Consumers are continuing to spend in some categories while pulling back in others, creating more variability across product groups and making category-level planning increasingly important.

“For retailers and manufacturers, the biggest risk is assuming consumers are responding to rising costs in the same way,” said Laurence Brenig-Jones, VP Product, Platform, RELEX Solutions. “Consumers are making highly individualized decisions based on price, health goals, value and household priorities. What’s interesting is that while shoppers are pulling back in some categories, they continue to prioritize fresh groceries. That creates a very different planning challenge than broad-based demand declines because retailers need to be able to respond to shifting demand at the category level. As those preferences continue to evolve, understanding category-level demand shifts is becoming increasingly important for managing supply chain, pricing, promotions and assortment.”

Methodology
RELEX surveyed 1,000 consumers across the United States and United Kingdom in June 2026 to better understand how economic pressures, changing consumption habits and evolving shopping behaviors are influencing purchasing decisions.

About RELEX
RELEX Solutions provides an AI platform for intelligent decision-making and automation across complex operational environments. Trusted by 700+ customers globally, RELEX helps retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers plan, decide, and act across demand, inventory, merchandising, pricing, and supply chain operations.

Built on two decades of domain expertise and a unified data foundation, the RELEX platform helps companies to deploy, connect, and scale capabilities on a single platform, to innovate at their own pace. Leading brands like ADUSA, Camco, Carhartt, COSMOS Pharmaceutical Corporation, Circle K, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, M&S Food, PetSmart, Rituals, The Body Shop, The Home Depot, Sun Tire & Auto Service, and Vita Coco use RELEX to run and continuously evolve their operations. Learn more at: relexsolutions.com/customers

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SOURCE RELEX Solutions