How Sprouts Farmers Market Compares to Trader Joe's
Healthy grocer Sprouts Farmers Market experienced year-over-year (YoY) foot traffic growth of 8.1% in the third quarter of 2024, while the average number of visits to each location increased 2.6%. This is according to research from location intelligence and foot traffic data firm Placer.ai.
Additionally, Trader Joe’s YoY visit growth has outperformed the wider grocery category every month of 2024 thus far. In August 2024, Trader Joe’s experienced a YoY foot traffic boost of 8.7%, compared with 3.0% for the wider segment.
While both Sprouts and Trader Joe's are positioned as specialty grocers, Sprouts is somewhat more akin to a traditional supermarket, as indicated in Placer.ai’s report.
For example, Sprouts boasts a wider array of merchandise than Trader Joe’s – including a vast selection of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. And while Sprouts has been leaning heavily into its growing portfolio of private label products (it recently launched a self-care line called Real Root by Sprouts), they still account for a minority of the chain’s revenue. In Q2 2024, Placer.ai reported that just about 20% of Sprouts’ revenue came from private label items, while at Trader Joe’s, some 80% of products sold are own-label.
Additionally, like traditional grocery stores, Sprouts attracts more parental households and fewer singles than Trader Joe’s. According to Placer.ai, over the past 12 months, the share of families with children in Sprouts’ captured market stood at 27.8% – higher than Trader Joe’s 25.4% and in line with the industry-wide average of 27.4%. On the flip side, the share of one-person households in Sprouts’ captured market was 26.2%, lower than Trader Joe’s 29.5%.
The more visits from singles – living on their own or with roommates – at Trader Joe’s could be partly due to the grocer’s ongoing investment in college towns, like the store in East Lansing, Mich., that opened this year, as well as its “fun” shopping experience. Plus, Trader Joe’s is infamous for its eclectic frozen food selection – ideal for novice cooks pressed for time or space.
Sprouts, meanwhile, touts itself as a fresh, natural and organic food retailer, and it’s known for focusing on fresh produce in its stores.
Trader Joe's currently has a larger operating area, with more than 500 stores in 43 states compared with Sprouts' 400-plus stores in 24 states nationwide. However, Sprouts is quickly catching up, as it has plans to expand its banner with more than 110 approved new stores in the pipeline over the next few years.
Additionally, while both grocers certainly have a loyal customer base, Sprouts is the only one testing out an official loyalty program.
One key similarity of both grocers is they offer a carefully curated assortment of products, with plenty of lifestyle-friendly ingredients, including plant-based and gluten-free options.
Further, Sprouts’ forager-driven approach to product assortment has bolstered customer engagement. “Our foraging team has done an amazing job finding products that are not sold anywhere else. There are some entrepreneurs in the country who are bringing a lot of interesting things, and we have become a go-to for people to bring products to the market,” said CEO Jack Sinclair during the company’s second-quarter earnings webcast.
Trader Joe’s also touts its assortment methods, noting on its website that its buyers “travel the world searching for products we think are exceptional and will find a following among our customers. To earn a spot on our shelves, each product is submitted to a rigorous tasting panel process, in which every aspect of quality is investigated in context of the price we can offer. If a product is assessed as an outstanding value, it becomes an essential part of the Trader Joe's shopping adventure.”
These unique products will likely keep visits to both Sprouts and Trader Joe's high in the coming year.
Phoenix-based Sprouts Farmers Market is No. 51 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Trader Joe’s is No. 33 on The PG 100.
