Swapping supermarkets for specialty

More and more shoppers, especially millennials, are skipping supermarkets and supercenters in favor of specialty organic stores and farmers' markets. The main driver for the switch is the availability of special attribute items such as local and organic options, “signaling room to fine-tune assortment by store,” the report said. Eight per cent of millennials said they prefer farmers’ markets when shopping for produce.

“The millennial attraction to formats outside of the supermarket channel should be a red flag for traditional operators,” the report said. “Given the millennial importance as a driver of category growth, capturing the business of the millennial organic shopper will be an important key to growth for either channel.”