Consumers have ideas about the rate of food inflation that are themselves inflated, according to a new survey.
When asked to gauge food inflation, the average guess was 17.7% in an online poll of nearly 65,000 consumers by Dunnhumby. The actual rate in the U.S. is 7.4% for January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The survey also found that inflation and economics in general are consumers’ uppermost concerns, edging out COVID.
The poll was international, and overestimating the rate of food inflation was something done consistently in all nations, by an average of 14 percentage points.
In addition, 60% of respondents said it seems to them that more grocery products are out of stock when they shop, compared with 46% in a September survey.
