NEW YORK – It’s not news that consumers are spending less time — and money — in traditional grocery stores. But a new report from IRI finds that as value and convenience emerge as increasingly essential, people are making their consumer packaged goods purchases in all kinds of unexpected places, according to Marketing Daily. Channel blurring is omnipresent, with frozen foods as one of the hottest categories in dollar stores and wine as one of the fastest-selling items at the neighborhood drug store.

“At this point, there are something like 2,500 potential paths to purchase, and any number of steps people can take to research their food purchases,” Susan Viamari, editor, Thought Leadership, IRI, told the publication. “With so many options and so much noise, it is more important than ever that marketers carefully tailor their products and their programs. To break through all that clutter, they need to resonate with a solid message of value.”

As shoppers continue to shift channels and devices, there is no longer an “average” shopper, with some 80% visiting three or more channels to carry out their grocery and consumer packaged good purchases. In the past year, trip frequency and basket size has been flat to declining at both grocery and drug stores. Trips to dollar stores were also flat, but the average basket size increased 3%. And while trips to club stores fell a bit, spending in that channel also grew slightly.

The way people use these channels is also evolving. For example, shoppers are more inclined to use their trip to Costco and other club stores to stock up the pantry, and they’re more likely to use the drug store for fast “fill-in” trips, to grab milk, bread or canned soup. Grocery stores have lost share in core departments, while mass discounters and supercenters have given up ground in home care and general merchandise.

According to Viamari in Marketing Daily, certain channels have excelled at making their offerings appealing to important segments: younger consumers view dollar stores in the same way an older shopper might have seen a convenience store, for instance.

Marketing Daily sums it up simply: Shopping preferences are “changing so quickly that [retailers] can’t afford to get caught up in the status quo. Consumers are more open than ever to buying products in unexpected channels.”