Editor's Note: This article was originally featured on the Oliver Wyman Forum.

The pandemic has altered many consumer behaviors over the past year and a half, but few are as dramatic as the shift (and disruptions) in food shopping. People who never thought twice about running out to the store for a few items suddenly had to worry about the risk of catching the coronavirus or the availability of toilet paper. The impact was dramatic: Where once price was king, shoppers quickly turned to health and safety at almost any price.

In May, people ranked “impact on my personal finances” as the second lowest among seven criteria for making grocery purchasing decisions, according to the Oliver Wyman Forum’s Global Consumer Sentiment survey, which gathers opinion from 10 countries. Only 42 percent of respondents rated this factor as important or very important, or barely half as many who cited health and safety as important or very important.

This article is provided courtesy of Oliver Wyman and may be completed at this link.