The International Dairy Deli Association (IDDBA) recently released the third installment of its COVID-19 reports.

This week’s report focuses on the week of April 5^th, where food sales continued to show highly elevated levels, with center store food dollars up 29.4 percent over the comparable week in 2019. Boosted by an increase of 41.2 percent in meat, the total perimeter increased 15.8 percent over the week of April 5 compared to the comparable week in 2019. Shoppers expressed both understanding and some frustration with the shortages of dairy items in their stores. It appears disproportionately more of the deli meat dollar is going to pre-packaged meat amid COVID-19 sales.

Bakery saw more dollars shift from the in-store bakery to the bakery aisle:

• For the week ending 3/15/20, sales were up 78.8 percent, compared with the same week in 2019.
• For the week ending 3/22/20, sales were up 49.2 percent.

According to the report:

• Other baked goods, including cookies and crackers found in the center store aisles, saw big increases as well, likely driven by the combination of pantry stocking and increased everyday needs.
• Sales of crackers started to gear up at the onset of the coronavirus-related measures, at +9.1 percent over the week ending March 8. Sales continued to be highly elevated the week ending April 5, at +12.8 percent.
• Packaged cookies went from seeing some sales pressure early in March to a 15.1 percent increase for the week ending April 5 versus the comparable week in 2019.

Access the full report here.

Join IDDBA and IRI’s Jonna Parker on Thursday, April 16^th at 11:00 am CST, for the weekly COVID-19 Impact Report webinar. These weekly webinars will break down and debrief the reports, attendees will also be able to ask questions. Register for this opportunity here.