Read the latest insight and see full market statistics for the US...
Read the latest insight and see full market statistics for the US and Canada, for a comprehensive understanding of shifting consumer preferences and how industries are expected to develop in two of the most affluent, innovative and highest demand cou...
The federal beverage alcohol duty was set to increase by 6.3% on March 2023, which would have forced some bars and restaurants out of business. However, the federal government decided to cap the increase at 2% on April 2023, which will stay in place…
2023 represented the first full year of a post-pandemic world for most people in the US, and the return to somewhat normal life helped to drive recovery for categories within cafés/bars that had struggled during the peak pandemic years. In…
Cannabis sales growth is being driven by adult-use cannabis, with a growing user base linked to the illicit market, growing social acceptance and fair pricing. Heightened consumer stress as a result for inflation is also encouraging growing use,…
Cannabis in the US has seen a significant slowdown in growth in recent years, albeit with a still positive performance, and showing many indications of more robust growth over the forecast period. Although near-term federal legalisation is less…
Off-trade volume sales declined in 2023 due to ongoing negative public perceptions around carbonates. Rising health consciousness has led consumers to shift towards healthier options such as sparkling bottled water and RTD tea juices. This trend has…
After record-high inflation in 2022, consumer packaged goods companies have continued with necessary price actions in 2023. Most notably, carbonates has seen a unit price increase of around 10%. Companies have executed price increases using…
As in dog food, the trend towards premium and natural offerings continued in cat food in Canada at the end of the review period. Owners increasingly look for high-quality, whole-food ingredients and specialised diets for their cats. Importantly, they…
In 2024, maintaining the trend seen over the previous two years, cat food is set to see solid retail volume growth and more dynamic current value growth in the US. Over the past year, the cat food category has received growing attention from…
Growth continues to slow for charge cards in Canada in 2023, with the category’s relevance fading rapidly. One reason is lack of availability, with American Express morphing many of its charge cards into the realm of traditional credit cards. For the…
Charge cards as a whole has been performing well in 2023, and it is expected to continue to grow beyond pandemic lows. Consumer spending in 2023 has driven payments across all card types, with the return to travel remaining an important storyline – a…
Cheese consumption continues to rise in Canada, leading to an enhancement in overall sales both in terms of value and volume. Effective trade agreements have facilitated the availability of a wide variety of cheese from countries including the US and…
Retail volumes remain in negative figures in cheese in 2023, while value sales are supported by hikes in unit prices. Indeed, 2022 marked a difficult year for consumers, as they saw consistent monthly unit price increases throughout the year, leading…
Childrenswear experiences solid value growth in 2023, continuing its recovery from the previous year. However, volume growth diminishes due to inflationary pressures, prompting consumers to focus on essentials. Back-to-school shopping in 2023, a…
Childrenswear in the US, which showed recovery from the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, faced significant challenges in 2022, and this has continued in 2023, due to the impact of inflation and the rising cost of living.…
Chocolate confectionery maintains its healthy growth in Canada in 2024, bolstered primarily by escalating commodity prices and a strong consumer desire for indulgence. Cocoa prices experienced significant increases in the first half of the year,…
US consumers are continuing to modify their shopping habits in order to cope with the higher prices of their favourite treats. Some consumers are buying lower-priced chocolate confectionery to ensure volume supply, some are buying decadent chocolate…
In 2023, cider/perry in Canada continued its downward trajectory. Although some growth was brought on by the on-trade sector, the off-trade segment saw a significant decline. The category struggled due to a lack of new product launches and faced…
While overall cider/perry in the US marked 2023 with a loss of volume and value sales, and a loss of share in overall alcoholic drinks, advocates paint a rosier picture for the category’s performance and outlook. Much in the same way the larger…
In 2023, Canada saw a significant decline in the production of traditional cigarettes, with January marking the third lowest monthly production on record. This decrease in production capacity in the tobacco manufacturing industry marks part of the…
Cigarettes in the US saw declines in both retail volume and current value terms in 2023. High inflationary pressure led to increased consumer spending on groceries, entertainment, fuel, and more, ultimately negatively impacting the consumption of…
Despite challenges in the wider tobacco category, cigars in Canada continue to attract a dedicated following among cigar aficionados and other tobacco enthusiasts. There is a growing interest in pairing cigars with craft beverages, such as whiskey…
Cigars and cigarillos in the US had an abrupt awakening in 2023, after the category experienced a current value decline for the first time in over a decade. This came off the back of a very strong performance in the pandemic and post-pandemic period…
In Canada, there is a great deal of competition in coffee, especially as players seek to make their products more sustainable amongst an increasingly informed population that cares about the social and environmental impacts of their consumption. As a…
Over the last three years, the way in which people in the US consume coffee has undergone significant and continuing change. Initially, due to the pandemic, there was a swift shift towards drinking coffee at home, driving retail volumes and leading…
Colour cosmetics witnessed exceptional growth in 2023, fuelled by consumers seeking to indulge in affordable luxuries amidst challenging economic conditions marked by high inflation and interest rates. As the cost of daily essentials such as rents,…
Colour cosmetics posted a healthy overall performance in 2023, seeing retail volume and current value growth, with premium colour cosmetics outpacing mass in terms of value growth. Lip products continued to clearly drive growth, with stickiness in…
Retail volume sales of computers and peripherals saw a decline in 2023, continuing the trend of the previous two years. Growth was hindered by the high rate of inflation, at least during the first half of 2023, which continued to bite into…
In the US, recent trends in computers and peripherals have been shaped by ongoing corrections and shifts in consumer behaviour, especially during the post-pandemic era. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant surge in sales as…
Concentrates registered healthy volume growth in Canada in 2023. A return to normal levels of activity outside of the home post-pandemic has led to increased consumption of concentrates, particularly liquid concentrates, which outperformed powder…
Concentrates are often seen as a more affordable option, driving trading across from juice. The primary appeal of powder concentrates in particular remains their affordability, offering consumers the most value in dollars per litre across…
Flexible packaging continues to be the dominant packaging in confectionery, with flexible plastic the main individual pack type thanks to its strong position in chocolate confectionery. Flexible plastic is also the most-used pack type for sugar…
Growing eco awareness across the US is driving consumers to seek out products that provide more sustainable end-of-cycle outcomes for packaging and the reduction of plastic waste generation. In turn, packaging players are responding to this demand by…
Consumer appliances continued to exhibit a corrective phase throughout 2023, stemming from the heightened sales witnessed during the pandemic, attributed to prolonged home isolation due to COVID-19 policies and a robust housing market. This…
Several noteworthy developments have come into focus in consumer appliances in 2023. One significant trend is the expectation of declining retail volume sales across various consumer appliances categories. This follows a period of robust growth, and…
In 2023 the Bank of Canada has tweaked its prime interest rate several times. The impact on the housing market has been a rise in household mortgage debt. Consumers with variable rate mortgages or on the cusp of renewals have been struck especially…
2022 and 2023 saw some of the most rapid increases in lending interest rates in US history. During the pandemic, many interest rates approached record lows, leading consumers to refinance debt, and leading to a generally free lending environment. In…
Retail volume sales of consumer electronics registered a modest decline in 2023, although this represented a considerable improvement over the previous year, when global uncertainty linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led unit prices to increase…
The negative volume growth that was registered across consumer electronics in the US in 2023 can be seen largely as a continuation of the suppressed demand that has emerged during the post-pandemic era. Now that the positive impact of stay-at-home…
The travel and tourism industry has shown a strong recovery across 2021 and 2022 and in 2023, it was very close to reaching pre-pandemic value sales levels. As such, consumer food service through travel was the best-performing non-stand-alone…
The sale of food through drive-through has continued to grow, and in 2023 remained elevated above the pre-pandemic level. The growth of drive-through ordering was fuelled by the desire to avoid human interaction during the pandemic, but has stuck as…
The foodservice industry continued to show strong sales growth in 2023. However, much of this growth was driven by inflation, with operators, labour, rent and food costs having significantly increased. As such, the main driver of value sales in 2023…
After three years of having at least a period of time in the year when COVID-19-related restrictions affected restaurant visits, many operators looked forward to 2023 as the first year of a return to normalcy. High inflation and its reverberating…
In 2023, still relatively high inflation continues to impact prices of essentials, such as groceries, as well as consumer health products, including OTC remedies, vitamins and dietary supplements and sports nutrition. However, consumer demand remains…
While 2022 was characterised by high inflation, persisting supply chain constraints, and the ongoing war in Ukraine, which brought price increases and volume declines across much of consumer health, it benefited from waning COVID-19 cases and the…
Canada's credit landscape in 2023 is showing rises in lending, with more Canadians gaining access to lending products via traditional financial institutions and private lenders. At the same time, as the cost of living bears down on Canadians, thanks…
The primary challenges facing consumer lending in 2023 have been a continuation of 2022’s twin factors of higher inflation and increasing interest rates. While the story in 2022 was one of largely unchecked inflation affecting much of the US economy,…
In 2024, there has been continued value growth in contact lenses and solutions sales in Canada, primarily driven by the steady return of consumers to workplaces and out-of-home activities following the rollback of COVID-19 safety measures by Canadian…
Contact lenses and solutions in the US is set to maintain solid current value growth in 2024. Daily disposable lenses (DD) showed the most dynamic growth, with conventional lenses, frequent replacement lenses (FRP), and the related contact lens…
Convenience retailers in Canada faced a challenging environment in 2023. The COVID-19 crisis and subsequent high rates of inflation have made consumers more conscious of their spending and more likely to shop around for the best deals. In this…
As it did for many industries, the pandemic distorted the growth curve for convenience retailers. Following historically high current value growth rates in 2021 and 2022, sales slowed for convenience retailers (which encompasses convenience stores…