Meal planning fuels shopping decisions

By J'nai Gaither on 12/2/2010

Most grocery shoppers enter a store having planned out their meals in advance, according to survey results from The NPD Group, a market research company.

The report, titled “Before the Store,” found that 71 percent of the households surveyed plan some of their dinners in advance, and 24 percent plan all of their meals in advance.

“The frequency of meal planning is an indication that many purchase decisions are made prior to grocery shopping,” said Ann Hanson, executive director of product development at NPD and report author.

Other findings were that among those who planned, impulse buying was the result of a sale item, and that prepared foods are an impulse purchase when shoppers haven’t planned out their meal and are looking for menu ideas

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