Grocery shoppers’ anxieties around food price inflation may be easing somewhat, but they continue to pinch pennies wherever possible.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Barbara Connors, vice president, strategy and acceleration at 84.51°, Kroger’s retail data science, insights and media company, spoke to how consumers’ grocery shopping habits remain affected by inflation even as concerns subside.

“Shopper behaviors that have been adopted over the last year and a half during the inflationary environment are going to linger,” Connors said. “As we see inflation cool, we’re not going to see an immediate drop in using coupons, in looking for deals, in looking for value. A lot of those behaviors [are] fiscally responsible behaviors that shoppers have now learned as a way that they can save money and still get the products that they want.”

Connors explained that while the share of consumers highly concerned with inflation has been dipping slowly over the past several months (from 67% in February to 64% in May), consumers continue to look for deals as much as ever and to switch to lower-cost brands.

Plus, PYMNTS’ March report, “Consumer Inflation Sentiment: The False Appeal of Deal-Chasing Consumers,” for which we surveyed more than 2,100 United States consumers in February, revealed that 44% of grocery shoppers are deal chasers, willing to go wherever they will get the best price. Plus, Connors noted that 84.51° has seen more than two-thirds of consumers seeking deals at the grocery store.

Notably, one area where grocery shoppers’ inflation-related habit changes have eased up somewhat is in terms of cutting back on nonessential items — some consumers are beginning once again to purchase up their favorite treats and indulgences as their anxieties around price increases abate.

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