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THIS WEEK IN SUPERMARKET HISTORY

May 17, 1954news in SN on May 17, 1954, was a survey of 19 cities, the 1954 Consolidated Consumer Analysis of Buying Habits, which indicated more families were buying their groceries on Monday through Thursday. Sound familiar? That's because in 2002, the acceleration of that buying trend is again noteworthy. For years, conventional wisdom has held that the biggest shopping days are Saturday and Sunday.

May 17, 1954

news in SN on May 17, 1954, was a survey of 19 cities, the 1954 Consolidated Consumer Analysis of Buying Habits, which indicated more families were buying their groceries on Monday through Thursday. Sound familiar? That's because in 2002, the acceleration of that buying trend is again noteworthy. For years, conventional wisdom has held that the biggest shopping days are Saturday and Sunday. That's when promotions were planned, events were staged and sales were targeted. But now, shopping patterns have started to level out across the week.

According to Homescan's shopper frequency data from ACNielsen for 2001, of 75 traditional shopping trips annually, 17.3% were on Sundays and 16.1% on Saturdays. During the week, though, there is not a significant drop in shopping trips: 13.3% on Monday, 13.1% on Tuesday, 12.9% on Wednesday and 13% on Thursday. While shoppers were still primarily in stores on the weekend, the differences between days of the week seem to be gradually flattening out.

Today, industry observers point to a variety of social and demographic shifts that have affected these figures: families with two working parents, increasing numbers of retirees, and a desire to keep the weekends open to as much "free time" as possible.