Sprouts Farmers Market has been beating the grocery market average when it comes to store visits.
According to Placer.ai, year-over-year visits for the grocer increased every month in 2023, and they have been above the curve in terms of the industry average since mid-2023.
So far during the first quarter of 2024, visits were up 13.3% year over year in February and 11.9% in March.
Helping the hot streak is store growth — Sprouts Farmers Market powered up 30 new stores last year and is planning 35 store openings this year.
Placer.ai also notes the type of shopper as another reason for the strong foot traffic. According to Placer.ai, the median HHI in areas of Sprouts stores is higher than the U.S. median HHI. Higher income customers have not been impacted by inflation as much as others.
The Placer.ai data also broke down when Sprouts shoppers have been roaming the aisles, noting that the share of weekend visits in Q1 2024 ranged from 31.3% in California to 36.6% in Virginia. Morning hours (8 a.m. to 9:59 a.m.) were favored by customers in California, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania shoppers also like to shop at night as did those in Florida and Texas.
However, shoppers also chose to go elsewhere for their grocery needs. Placer.ai data showed 93% of Sprouts shoppers in Florida also went to Publix, while 74.7% of them in New Jersey shopped at ShopRite. In Delaware, ACME Markets (71.7%) was the preferred alternative to Sprouts.