Dollar Tree sees biggest gain among retailers.
A new index from The NPD Group’s Checkout Tracking shows that some of the biggest names in retailing and foodservice have reached an extraordinary percentage of buyers at least once a year.
Walmart, McDonald’s, and Target top the list with better than five out of six U.S. consumers shopping in 2016.
The Checkout Penetration Index, based on millions of receipts from actual consumers across all retailers and restaurants, both online and in brick and mortar, takes a new approach to understanding market penetration and performance. The index is based on one simple question: “What percentage of all U. S. consumers bought at each store or restaurant?”
The biggest gainer among restaurants in the Top 25 was Chick-fil-A, which saw a five percentage point increase in penetration in 2016. The biggest gainer among retailers was Dollar Tree, which saw a three percentage point increase. Both Chick-fil-A and Dollar Tree have been expanding operations aggressively.
“The battle for every consumer dollar is heating up, and we must shift from studying what consumers purchase to how they spend their money,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group, Inc. “Consumers spending on experiences is overlapping with their purchases of products, making every item and visit so important to competing in today’s rapidly changing marketplace.”