Consumer Food Demand Shifts in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Study Based on Retail Sales Data

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting mobility controls have led to profound changes in consumers’ grocery purchase preferences. This study explores the consumer demand response to the spread of the coronavirus and its variants. We establish a regression model, apply it to sales history data from a major North American retailer, and study the consumer preference in what food they buy and through which channel. While our empirical results provide data-driven support to several academic and industry viewpoints, and some counterexamples, a systematic implementation of the model can automatically provide managerial insights on future trends across vendors, brands and specific products. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.