How Delayed and Forced Retirement is Affecting Grocery Shopping

America today is a land of two retirements – the forced early ones when companies downsize and the deferred ones that never seem to come because people feel they must work in order to sustain their households. In this month’s edition ofFacts, Figures & the Future, we take an in-depth look at how this trend is bad news for supermarkets, since both encourage shopper mindsets to save rather than spend, and to be utilitarian rather than indulgent. Food store operators that serve Baby Boomers and seniors should market to them with an understanding of the financial pressures they face, and the way these pressures might alter their food buying and consumption decisions.