Americans are buying less groceries; unit sales were flat most of 2025 and declined about 2% year over year in most months since February 2026, according to data from Bain & Company and NielsenIQ shared exclusively with CNBC. CNBC’s Brandon Gomez has the details on what that means for retailers as this trend is likely to continue unless other financial pressures ease.
They sort of explain loss leaders later in the segment. I don’t think they take a hit to their overall profit margin, but they might take a hit on items for which they know customers have a price memory.