During the recent SN Analysts Roundtable, Supermarket News spoke with Rupesh Parikh, grocery analyst at Oppenheimer, about the challenges that the industry may face in 2021 as it comes down from the high sales peaks of the pantry loading it saw in the first half of 2020.
But not all retailers, Parikh noted, saying that Walmart, Costco, BJ’s and the club channel, Dollar General and the dollar store channel are all in positions of strength coming into 2021.
“I think conventional groceries are going to be a little trickier,” he said. “The first half of the year will be tougher with some of the difficult comparisons to this year, especially from pantry loading. I think from a share perspective, pre-pandemic, the conventional grocery channel had been growing slower than other parts of grocery retail. I think those same dynamics will come into play as we begin to lap the pandemic-related boom.”
For more of Parikh’s thoughts on where the food retail industry is headed in 2021, check out the short video below.
