Shopping habits

Research into consumer habits when shopping for food.

In addition to monitoring dietary intakes, we also regularly publish data on the types of foods and drinks people buy from shops and supermarkets, and the factors which might influence our shopping behaviour.

Shoppers bought 44% more food and drink from shops in the week before national lockdown in March 2020 compared to March 2019

Purchase of food and drink categories

We also publish reports on the retail purchase of particular food and drink categories of interest. 

Most recent report:


The impact of COVID-19 on food and drink buying in Scotland

COVID-19 has had a big impact on how we buy and consume food. We have recently published detailed weekly data to explore changes in purchasing patterns throughout the high alert period of COVID-19 in 2020.