Labor Day 2021 !

Brad Zenger

​Pivotal Tools Marketing Guy who loves food and wants to see Independent Grocers Win!

For Pivotal Tools Grocers, Labor Day 2021 was strong, with same store sales up 9% over the most recent "normal" year of 2019, and down only slightly (-1%) relative to the exceptional pandemic Labor Day of 2020.

Elevated Labor Day sales were driven by an average basket up over 34% compared to 2019, while customer trips are down 19%, but up 3% relative to 2020.  Customers are clearly returning to their local grocers more frequently while continuing to buy at historically elevated levels.

Why is this important?  At Pivotal Tools, we are working to empower Independent Grocers to serve their shoppers even more effectively in an increasingly competitive retail environment.  We provide Independent Grocers actionable insights, in their pocket, about their business and shoppers that results in sales growth.  

As an example, Grocer Top 10 Sales Items continue to tell an evolving story of shopper behaviors they continue to navigate the current pandemic influenced landscape.  

Produce and Meat Items together represent over half of the Top 10 items across our Customers' stores for this Labor Day weekend.  Deli/Prepared Food items represented 3 of the Top 10 for Labor Day 2019, but fewer than 2 in 2020, and just over 2 in 2021, reinforcing the ongoing trend of significant growth/recovery in prepared foods.

The biggest Top 10 loser is liquor (including beer and wine) which fell out of the Top 10 in 2021, compared to a Liquor Comforted 2020!  That certainly tells a story about how shoppers needed less liquor to navigate this Labor Day compared to the last one!

We continue to be excited for our Grocers, who are delivering for their customers with continued elevated basket sizes and strong growth in deli/prepared foods sales!