Methodology and tables

The 57th Consumer Expenditures Study is based on five years of comparable scan data from ACNielsen (70 percent) and estimates by Progressive Grocer research for nontracked perishables and general merchandise (30 percent).

ACNielsen scan data is based on a census of 10,000 supermarkets, plus a special sample of 3,000. Data in the summary table for total retail sales and shares in supermarkets and mass supercenters are drawn from ACNielsen's Homescan panel. Homescan is a projectable sample of 61,500 U.S. households whose members scan all product purchases, recording price and source, among other things.

Sales in the detail tables are for U.S. supermarkets for calendar year 2003, shown in millions of dollars. Supermarkets are defined as grocery stores doing a minimum of $2 million in annual volume that carry a full line of edible and nonfood groceries and perishables. Supermarket formats include limited-assortment, cash-and-carry warehouse, conventional, combination, superstore, and supercenter.

Sales of supercenters operated by mass merchandisers are omitted, but those operated by grocery chains are included. Also not included are nonsupermarket formats such as wholesale membership clubs, convenience, drug, dollar, discount, and small grocery and food stores.

The sales of supermarket-type items can be estimated for mass supercenters (Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target) by taking their share in the summary against total retail sales. Likewise, the share for all nonsupermarket outlets is the total of both supermarket and mass supercenter shares, subtracted from 100 percent.

One final caveat: Some totals may not justify due to rounding of percents or suppression of sales detail. All categories are shown in the summary table. In the detail tables all lines in grocery and perishables with sales of less than $10 million, and HBC and GM categories with sales under $20 million, are subject to omission.

—Walter Heller