Its latest trend report, entitled "Channel Migration: The Blurring of Shopper Loyalty", found that shoppers have become much more price-sensitive and willing to switch between shops and brands.

Consulting and innovation president at IRI Tom Blischok said: “When we studied channel migration last year, we uncovered sizeable share gains by supercenters across departments and income levels, since consumers were trying to stretch their dollars. While supercenters are continuing to do well, we are also finding that competing retail channels have really been turning up the heat… This is certainly the time for both retailers and manufacturers to conduct frequent and granular consumer and market assessments and develop consumer-centric marketing strategies.”