Sprouts Farmers Market is above average for grocery markets when it comes to store visits.
According to Placer.ai, grocery store year-over-year visitation has increased every month in 2023 and has outpaced the industry average since mid-2023.
So far in the first quarter of 2024, visitor numbers increased 13.3% year-over-year in February and 11.9% in March.
This growth is being driven by an increase in the number of stores: Sprouts Farmers Market opened 30 new stores last year and plans to open 35 more this year.
Placer.ai points out that the type of shopper is also a factor in the high foot traffic: According to Placer.ai, the median HHI in Sprouts' area is higher than the median HHI in the U.S. Higher-income customers are not as affected by inflation as others.
Placer.ai data also breaks down the time of day Sprouts shoppers are roaming the aisles, showing that weekend foot traffic ranged from 31.3% in California to 36.6% in Virginia in Q1 2024. Morning hours (8:00am to 9:59am) were preferred by customers in California, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania shoppers also prefer to shop at night, as do shoppers in Florida and Texas.
But shoppers are also choosing to do their grocery shopping elsewhere: 93% of Sprouts shoppers in Florida also go to Publix, and in New Jersey, 74.7% shop at ShopRite, according to Placer.ai data. In Delaware, ACME Markets (71.7%) is the preferred alternative to Sprouts.
