In order to ensure success in 2021 and beyond, it’s essential for brands and retailers to understand the changed consumer behaviors that have staying power. Besides the unprecedented increases in online grocery adoption, here are a few COVID-19-related grocery shopping trends that have long-term staying power.

This month’s Table Talk, a monthly interview series by Chicory’s CEO and Co-Founder, Yuni Sameshima, features Ethan Goodman, SVP of Commerce Media at The Mars Agency, one of the most well-known global marketing agencies, with exceptional knowledge and expertise in shopper marketing.

We dug into the trends in our recipe network to look forward to Christmas food trends and found some interesting patterns emerging this month. Some new patterns emerge (consumers leaning into seafood instead of their usual pork and beef, particularly in stews and soups) and some yearly classics make their way out of the woodwork (cookie recipes dominating Christmas).

We dug into the trends in our recipe network to look forward to Christmas food trends and found some interesting patterns emerging this month. Some new patterns emerge (consumers leaning into seafood instead of their usual pork and beef, particularly in stews and soups) and some yearly classics make their way out of the woodwork (cookie recipes dominating Christmas).

How did Thanksgiving, the largest week for recipes, fare in the Chicory network? We dug into our data to derive insights on how Thanksgiving 2020 differed -- and, actually didn’t differ all that much -- from years past.

Chicory recently hosted a virtual panel to explore the challenges faced by specialty brands and how they’re pivoting in real-time to account for the ever-changing shopper landscape, featuring panelists from Impossible Foods, Banza, Handsome Brook Farms, St Pierre Groupe and IRI.

The period from October 27th to November 9th, 2020 included major cultural and political events in the United States, including Halloween and the 2020 presidential election. Chicory’s shoppable recipe network indicated that more consumers celebrated Halloween through food than ever before, consumers’ eating habits were filled with stress eating and consumers are gearing up for Christmas early.

As we approach the final weeks of October, typical autumn food trends explode as consumers anticipate Halloween and take advantage of seasonal produce like winter squash and root vegetables.

The first weeks of October typically mark an observable shift in consumer behavior. Pumpkins, apples, nutmeg and cinnamon are out in full force, porches are decorated with autumn-themed and spooky decor and classic fall activities are packed with families, couples and friends looking to spend a day among the color-changing leaves.

As we continue through the second half of September, we explored the recipe, ingredient and food trends across Chicory’s shoppable recipe network to identify how consumer habits and behaviors are changing during this seasonal shift.

Consumers opted for autumnal spices,apple recipes and hearty comfort foods. This is significant because this past spring and summer marked periods of great unpredictability in consumer habits, but September shows a near complete return to patterns seen in previous years.

In a year unlike any other, we examined changes over the past two weeks in recipe engagement and online grocery orders within our shoppable recipe network to determine if and how consumers are changing their habits now that fall is here. The data shows that many shoppers are returning to old habits that were pushed aside since March 2020 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The end of summer and the start of the cooler fall season typically marks a major shift in trends in Chicory’s shoppable recipe network. Typically, a “return to routine” and the back-to-school season mean greater views and orders across our recipe network, but in an anything-but-ordinary year where engagement has surged since March, past years’ trends are no longer the norm.

Whew! It feels like we blinked and all of the sudden it became March 2016. And time moves even more quickly when it comes to the online media landscape. Things go from trendy to the trash in no time (like those jelly sandals you HAD to have in 6th grade). So before you catch yourself getting behind, take a look to see if you're still implementing these five out-of-date blogging practices. Take our advice and go from 2000-and-late to DAMN DANIEL (if you haven’t seen that vine, you have to). 

As we approach the fall season, nearly five months of life indoors and at home, we explored the trends in our shoppable recipe network to determine how recipe usage and online grocery ordering behavior changed over the past two weeks.