NEW YORK - The latest Nielsen Total US dollar sales data shows that the pattern of higher-than-average grocery sales continued into May. Total instore consumer packaged goods sales (CPG) in the United States were up 19.5%, online CPG sales were up 26.6% and online food sales overall were up 66% for the week ending on May 2.     

Instore sales growth is comparable to the previous week of April 25, while online sales took a drastic downturn. For the week ending on April 25, online sales were up 60.3% compared to 26.6% the first week of May. The meat category took back its lead over frozen, with seafood coming in second as the most elevated category and frozen coming in third for the week of May 2. 

Nielsen also released data for price changes among meat, dairy and alternative products, showing food prices for the week of May 2 above 2019 prices. 

The charts below break down Nielsen’s sales data by department and meat, dairy and alternatives for the weeks ending on April 25, May 2 and the nine weeks leading up to May 2 and show differences in sales prices compared to 2019: