Soup Sales Decline

A long-time food company, Campbell's, is reporting that soup sales are off a bit for the most recent quarter. Evidently this has been a trend.

This is a recent statement by the Campbell CEO:

"'There is a palpable change in consumer-buying behavior that is unlike anything we have experienced certainly for a few decades. They are being more surgical with their shopping,' Campbell's Chief Executive Doug Conant said."

Cordeiro Anjail, 2010. Campbell's profit up, but Sales stew. The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 4.

It is first hand statements like above that concern me deeply about the ability of the US economy to grow. Even in recovery, if people are so short on cash they they are agonizing over whether to buy soup or macaroni, then there has to be little if any consumer purchasing power.