Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Sales at Retail

“The uptick in fresh produce sales during Mother’s Day week is promising for Father’s
Day, which is traditionally a more grill-centric versus restaurant holiday. However, the
ongoing sales pressure in vegetables is concerning. While the total fresh produce
department continues to gain by means of fruit dollar and pound growth, vegetables
are falling behind despite deflationary conditions. Timely promotional activity along with
recipe ideation and cross merchandising hand-in-hand with offering high quality and
shopper education are just some of the ways that may help drive greater vegetable
purchases as we move into summer.”

Joe Watson, IFPA’s VP of Retail, Foodservice and Wholesale

May 2025

What's New

More Grocery Trips, But Fewer Units in the Cart

In May 2025, consumer sentiment was unchanged from April’s low 52.5 index, according to the University of Michigan. This ended four consecutive months of rapid declines. The university found an improvement in the expected business conditions, but this was offset by declines in current personal finances stemming from stagnating incomes throughout May. Overall, consumers remained concerned in their future outlook.
Grocery trips set new records. Year-to-date, consumers have shopped for groceries an average of 62 times per household, up 4.3% from the same weeks in 2024, according to Circana.

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Consumers continued to purchase fewer items per trip, down 2.3%, per Circana. In some categories, like meat, volume rose faster than units, signaling a switch to larger pack sizes. This is mostly driven by higherincome households. In other cases, consumers balanced their grocery spending by skipping non-essentials, buying smaller pack sizes and purchasing what’s on sale.
Brick Meets Click expects online grocery sales to maintain an annual growth rate of 8.9% over the next five years, which is more than five times its in-store counterpart’s projected 1.7%. The firm anticipates that online sales will make up 17% of all grocery sales by 2029.
Despite consumer cost-consciousness in 2025, third-party delivery giants Uber, DoorDash and Instacart defied expectations with doubledigit order growth. This results in continued blending of retail and restaurant foodservice.
Total retail food and beverage sales for the week leading up to Mother’s Day reached $19 million, up 3.1% and unit sales edged up 0.3%. Memorial Day, celebrated on Monday May 26th, generated slight unit growth of 0.3% year-over-year.