Consumers can’t stop buying groceries when money gets tight. They can only change the way they shop for them. That might mean buying only essentials, switching to cheaper brands, visiting different or multiple grocery stores, or cutting other expenses before reducing their grocery budget. The PissedConsumer.com 2026 grocery shopping trends survey looks at how consumers are handling those shopping and budget choices. It looks at where people shop, what food and household essentials they buy regularly, how they manage food spending, and what makes them trust one retailer over another. Consumers can compare their own shopping habits and get savings tips from fellow shoppers. For supermarkets and other grocery retailers, the findings show where price matters, why it doesn’t tell the whole story, and what they can do to keep consumers coming back. Key Insights Only 7.6% of consumers buy groceries exclusively online. 67.3% of shoppers buy groceries one or more times per week. 89.6% of grocery shoppers usually or always compare prices. Tariffs affect grocery spending for 54.1% of consumers. Bread (63.3%), milk (62.7%), and eggs (55.1%) are the top products consumers buy every week. AI tools still aren’t used by most shoppers (72.5%), but those who do use AI use it to discover (6.8%) and compare products (12.8%). Consumers plan to cut back in the next 6 months, but only 17.5% plan to cut back on grocery spending. Where do Consumers Buy Groceries in 2026? Walmart tops consumers’ list of the most-chosen grocery stores in 2026, with 44.3% shopping there. Aldi (21.8%) and Costco (17.8%) are the next two most common consumer picks. That said, many consumers don’t shop at just one grocery store. Other common visits include Kroger (16.6%), Trader Joe’s (11.1%), Dollar General (10.6%), Safeway (7.9%), and Publix (6.4%). Another 40.43% choose to shop at stores not directly mentioned as options in the survey. That last group is important because it shows that national chain rankings are only part of the story. Unnamed preferred grocery stores include regional supermarkets, small local grocers, and other less traditional grocery buying options. What the grocery shopping survey responses show is that competition is less about earning exclusive loyalty and more about earning a place in a shopper’s rotation. Prices and availability can fluctuate, leaving plenty of room for multiple stops on regular grocery shopping trips. What Stores Consumers Choose for Quality Grocery Shopping When it comes to the best and worst grocery stores, where consumers shop most often doesn’t always match the stores they associate with quality foods. Topping that list are Whole Foods (23.8%) and Trader Joe’s (19.8%). Only one store makes consumers’ top-three picks for both shopping preferences and association with quality products: Costco. The company is the store-of-choice for 17.8% of consumers, while 19.8% consider their food options to be high-quality. The gap between shopping preferences and quality perception shows two sides to retailer reputations: being trusted and being practical. Costco’s position on both lists shows retailers don’t have to make consumers choose between value and quality. How Popular is Online Grocery Shopping? Nearly one-third (32%) of consumers say they buy groceries online at least some of the time. Only 7.6% buy groceries online exclusively. That still leaves a significant majority of shoppers who do their grocery shopping entirely in-store (67.2%), with another 24.4% buying groceries both in-store and online. While online grocery orders might save time, they aren’t yet the norm for most. Shoppers who use both in-store and online grocery shopping could become an even more important audience moving forward for retailers. Online orders aren’t replacing their relationships with physical stores. Instead, they offer shoppers more ways to interact with their favorite retailers, from pick-up orders to deliveries. Download Grocery Shopping Report How Often Do Consumers Shop for Groceries? Over 67% of consumers buy groceries at least once a week. That includes 38% who shop exactly once each week to stock up on food and other products on their household essentials list. Not all consumers have quick and easy access to grocery retailers, though, and some prefer to stock up longer-term, such as through warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club. Those shoppers make up the 27.8% who say they buy groceries 2-3 times per month, plus the 4.1% who do their grocery shopping only once per month. Fewer than 1% say they shop even less often than that. Frequent grocery shopping can lead to repeated visits to the same stores and understanding each retailer’s stock and pricing. For retailers, that makes consistency important. Losing a spot in a customer’s routine costs more than a single product sale. More Than Half of Shoppers Buy These Five Staples Every Week Over 50% of consumers buy these staples every week: bread (63.3%), milk (62.7%), eggs (55.1%), meat (54.4%), and household supplies (50.6%). Not far behind, over 45% of consumers also buy frozen food, gas/fuel, and snacks weekly. One of the more surprising results of the survey is that only 8.1% of consumers say they buy fruit and vegetables weekly, especially since these are perishable items that often require more frequent purchases. Brand preferences for these staple products vary by product category, but a significant number of consumers say they have no brand preferences. While 38.2% of respondents have no preferred food brand and 26.9% don’t prefer a particular pantry brand, only 16.9% say the same about household essentials. Household product brands like cleaning and paper products also receive the strongest individual preference ratings. Dawn leads at 66.9%, followed by Ziploc (51.4%), Clorox (40.1%), Kleenex (39.4%), Bounty (36.1%), and Tide (35.7%). How Much Do People Spend on Groceries Each Month? The largest group of consumers (35.4%) spends $300-499 on groceries each month. The next largest groups spend $100-299 (25.7%) and $500-799 (19.76%). Average grocery spending per month can vary from less than $100 to over $1000. Factors impacting grocery spending would include the cost of living, available retailers, household sizes, brand preferences, and overall budgets. When it comes to these diverse grocery budgets, a price increase that looks small for one product can have a big impact on monthly spending for larger households buying more items or shopping for more people. That’s why value must work across different groups of consumers. Some are looking for lower unit prices, some want to minimize immediate purchases, and others benefit from bulk savings over time. Prices are Important in Most People’s Grocery Shopping Decisions Price plays a major role in grocery shopping decisions, with 57.4% of consumers saying they always compare prices, and another 32.3% saying they usually check them. Only 1.2% of shoppers don’t check grocery prices at all. This frequent and regular price comparison changes what loyalty looks like. Even if a familiar store or brand is preferred, that preference can be tested every time a shopper checks prices in-store or through store circulars. That doesn’t necessarily mean the lowest price is the only winning strategy for companies. Retailers can still compete on value without being the cheapest option. It’s about showing shoppers the right combination of pricing and trust, so consumers know saving money won’t mean accepting worse products or bad shopping experiences. Download Grocery Shopping Report How Do Consumers Save Money on Groceries and Household Essentials? When grocery shopping on a budget, respondents most often turn to purchasing only the essentials (19.9%), using coupons and promotions (11.6%), and buying fewer snacks and treats (10.8%). Additional ways they look to save include switching to cheaper brands or stores, reducing food waste, and buying in bulk. Despite the importance of grocery prices, 22.9% of shoppers say their spending habits haven’t changed at all. That could change, however, at least for the 17.5% of consumers who plan to cut back on grocery spending over the next six months. Overall, grocery savings are more about finding ways to get more for their money and not cutting back on overall grocery bills. Instead, shoppers plan to reduce costs more in other ways, such as cutting out restaurants and take-out (57.2%), travel and entertainment (46.2%), clothing and accessories (44.3%), electronics and home goods (41.3%), and subscriptions (40.2%). These cuts to discretionary expenses aim to help families maintain essential product shopping routines even when faced with higher costs. Are Consumers Using AI Tools for Grocery Shopping? Most consumers (72.5%) don’t use AI tools for grocery shopping. Of those who do, it’s used to compare products and prices (12.8%), read or summarize reviews (9.2%), and discover new products (6.79%). While AI tools are being used to research prices and products, only 1.9% of consumers say they’ve used them to complete a purchase. As AI becomes more integrated into traditional search tools, this is an area to watch. AI search continues to evolve, with it becoming a new gateway to finding sources for product information and third-party reviews. Its influence could continue to grow and expand into the grocery market. In the meantime, shoppers are researching products before buying using search engines, reading online reviews, and getting recommendations from friends or family. How Can Grocery Retailers Earn Consumer Trust? Consumers trust grocery retailers that consistently offer good quality products (74.3%), offer fresh food with proper expiration dates (65.6%), and provide clean and well-organized stores (62.6%). Earning that trust is especially important to protect retailers’ brand reputations. That’s because more than half of consumers (54.7%) say they’re likely or very likely to leave negative online reviews to warn others about their bad grocery shopping experiences. The good news is that shoppers taking our survey gave retailers even more ways they can earn trust and keep customers happy. They include: offering fair and transparent prices; providing good customer service; selling a variety of merchandise; offering discounts and loyalty rewards; keeping products in stock; making returns and refunds easy for consumers. Retailers don’t fully control pricing, especially considering economic influences such as tariffs, which have affected how much 54.1% of consumers spend on groceries and household essentials. And they can’t directly control consumer behavior. However, they do control the experience they offer shoppers. It could become one of their biggest selling points. Methodology Consumer advocacy and resolution platform, PissedConsumer.com, conducted an online survey of 1311 website visitors. Respondents represented consumers in the United States (83.7%), Canada (8.1%), the United Kingdom (5.9%), and Australia (2.3%) as of August 2026. To learn more about the PissedConsumer.com survey and trends, download our 2026 grocery shopping report.