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The new normal: Grocery shopping behavior changes before and after the COVID‐19 vaccine

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  • Michael Conlin
  • Katherine Harris‐Lagoudakis
  • Cara Haughey
  • Seung Yeon Jung
  • Hannah Wich

Abstract

In this paper, we use transaction data from a large grocery store retailer to describe changes in grocery shopping behavior associated with the progression of the COVID‐19 pandemic before and after the vaccines were developed. We find that in general, households increased their spending and decreased their number of transactions early in the pandemic. Further, most households increased their reliance on online shopping during the pandemic and this shift persisted into the post‐vaccine period. We find somewhat mixed results on how overall healthfulness of grocery store purchases changed during the pandemic, and we find that changes in healthfulness vary with market and household demographics. Perhaps most interestingly, we find that changes in a store's spending and transactions, along with the healthfulness of these purchases, vary significantly with the racial composition of a store's market and that these differential changes persisted after vaccines were available.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Conlin & Katherine Harris‐Lagoudakis & Cara Haughey & Seung Yeon Jung & Hannah Wich, 2024. "The new normal: Grocery shopping behavior changes before and after the COVID‐19 vaccine," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(3), pages 1241-1264, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:46:y:2024:i:3:p:1241-1264
    DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13429
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Emily Oster, 2018. "Diabetes and Diet: Purchasing Behavior Change in Response to Health Information," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 308-348, October.
    2. Jensen, Kimberly L. & Yenerall, Jackie & Chen, Xuqi & Yu, T. Edward, 2021. "US Consumers’ Online Shopping Behaviors and Intentions During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 416-434, August.
    3. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    4. Bożena Kusz & Lucyna Witek & Dariusz Kusz & Katarzyna Chudy-Laskowska & Paulina Ostyńska & Alina Walenia, 2023. "The Effect of COVID-19 on Food Consumers’ Channel Purchasing Behaviors: An Empirical Study from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, March.
    5. William Greene, 2004. "Fixed Effects and Bias Due to the Incidental Parameters Problem in the Tobit Model," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 125-147.
    6. Richard Volpe & Abigail Okrent & Ephraim Leibtag, 2013. "The Effect of Supercenter-format Stores on the Healthfulness of Consumers' Grocery Purchases," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(3), pages 568-589.
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    Cited by:

    1. Okrent, Abigail & Zeballos, Eliana, 2025. "U.S. Household Food Spending Post COVID-19 and the Implications for Diet Quality," Economic Research Report 358660, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

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