Seafood, whether ambient, fresh or frozen, has seen above average gains throughout the pandemic. While initially people may have switched over due to out-of-stocks in meat and poultry, seafood quickly became a powerful area of growth in its own right. 210 Analytics analyzed performance data provided by IRI.
Total Store Sales
Sales of all food and beverage related items remained elevated from January’s strong increase of +12.0%. February sales increased 11.8% over the weeks ending February 3rd through February 28th versus the same weeks in 2020. Both months are up significantly from a subdued December (+8.1%). As seen all throughout the pandemic, the frozen foods department is an above-average performer, whereas the fresh perimeter, which includes meat, produce, bakery, deli and seafood, has trended slightly below average. Meat and seafood have been top performers, but lower growth in produce, deli and bakery has pulled down the fresh perimeter average overall.