November sales are dominated by the all-important Thanksgiving holiday — one of the largest retail opportunities in meat and many other retail departments. This makes it a hard-to-beat sales occasion any year. However, throughout October and November, shoppers’ concern over COVID-19 rose along with the number of new cases. This resulted in very different Thanksgiving celebrations versus typical years, with less travel, smaller gatherings and earlier shopping to avoid crowds. Much like seen throughout the year, elevated concern also translated into a greater spending at retail versus foodservice. During the month of November, sales for all food-related items (total edibles) increased 9.3%, which was up from 8.6% during the month of October.
The November sales build was different this year, with COVID-19 prompting earlier Thanksgiving shopping. Additionally, many people shopped earlier or diverted purchases online — in some cases encouraged by retailers to manage traffic flow during one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year. Some retailers provided free delivery, ramped up their curbside order slots and encouraged earlier shopping. Many closed their doors altogether on Thanksgiving Day to provide the team a much needed break and a few closed their doors on Black Friday, a traditionally slow day for grocery retailing. The total meat department experienced a 5.4% boost in sales the week of Thanksgiving but the two weeks leading up to the holiday week were massive for the fresh meat department, at +17.5% and +19.9%. A sign of earlier meal planning, turkey sales peaked the week ending 11/15/20 this year.