Strapped consumers cut back, trade down

Consumers are making various adjustments to their food purchasing in light of bad economic times, according to research from Digital Research and ThinkVine. Of respondents to a web-based survey, 46% said they had cut back on grocery purchases this year. Trading down was a popular strategy, with 44% buying private label products, and 36% switching to lower-priced national brands. The most frequent switches to store brands among food items were in milk (33%) and bread (29%).