2020 Q1 Organic Produce Performance With March update

The month of March presented retail conditions unlike any ever experienced in the modern era of grocery retailing. Unprecedented pantry-loading purchase behavior by consumers across the United States emptied store shelfs resulting in widespread out-of-stock conditions.

To provide additional insight for OPN members on changing organic sales resulting from Covid-19, we have added incremental data for the month of March beyond our planned Q1 performance summary.

Key questions exist concerning how consumer purchases are shifting. A fundamental issue is how organic produce has performed relative to conventional alternatives. As consumers swept into stores on pantryloading shopping trips during the month of March, how did sales of organic categories products align with conventional alternatives? Were there significant variances among traditionally strong organic categories?

This report is an initial snapshot of key trends. It is meant to provide comparative cross-department performance metrics at a high level. Additional reports and information will be provided as conditions evolve.