Consumer Reports: Makers of packaged and frozen foods are giving retailers bigger promotional allowances—that is, payments for displays and advertising to promote their products—to make up for skimping on those subsidies earlier in the pandemic, explains Burt Flickinger III, managing director at Strategic Resource Group, a retail consulting company based in New York. "That’s going to be reflected in lower prices," he says.
Warehouse clubs, such as BJ’s Wholesale Club and Costco, are managing their inventory well, so you’re more likely to find the items on your list in stock, Flickinger says. The same goes for smaller regional chains; they may have an edge on keeping their shelves stocked because their distributors aren’t necessarily the same suppliers that stock bigger chains.
The cost of store-brand foods and beverages is at least 20 to 25 percent less than name brands of the same product, Flickinger says. (When CR members were surveyed about the grocery stores and supermarkets they liked best, three grocers earned top marks for their store brands: national names Costco and Trader Joe’s, and Central Market, which is based in San Antonio and is a subsidiary of the privately owned H-E-B supermarket chain.) You can often find store brands right next to comparable name-brand items.