Insee Analyses · October 2025 · n° 113

How do consumers adjust their food purchases during periods of inflation?

In response to the high food inflation that began in 2022, consumers have changed both the composition of their food shopping baskets and their purchasing behaviors. These adjustments are analyzed here for the first time using scanner data.

Between 2021 and 2022, on average, when the price of a product increased by 1%, the quantity sold fell by 0.6%. Moreover, faced with the general increase in food prices, consumers have fragmented their shopping: they visit stores more frequently but buy smaller baskets each time. They also turn more often to lower prices‑purchasing products on promotion, in smaller package sizes, or from lower-end ranges. Access to a more diverse retail environment amplifies some of these adjustments: in areas with a wider range of food outlets, price sensitivity and shopping fragmentation are both stronger.

Price sensitivity varies across products. Adjustments are more limited for essential goods, while they are stronger for non‑essential and storable products such as alcohol and chocolate, as well as for expensive yet substitutable items such as meat and fish.