There’s nothing more quintessentially American than the summer cookout, and this summer, mayonnaise is the top of the condiments at U.S. barbecues.
That’s according to a recent report from Amazon Fresh, which found mayo was the most-purchased condiment in nearly every state. The company said its customers purchase 430,000 gallons of mayonnaise each summer.
At the retail level, mayonnaise sales were up 21% on a dollar sales basis in the 52 weeks ending July 2, reaching a total value of $2.6 billion, according to Food Institute analysis of Circana data. Unit sales were up 0.2% to 529.1 million during the period.
Sales of mayonnaise bucked trends from the larger condiments and sauces category, which saw a 12.1% increase in dollar sales as unit sales for the category slumped 2.5%.
What can we decipher from this dynamic? It would appear consumers are more than willing to cover the year-over-year price gap to make sure they have mayo in their fridges.
Who Wins: Ketchup or Mustard?
When it comes to condiments and rivalries, ketchup versus mustard is among the oldest, and according to Amazon, mustard cannot “catch-up” to ketchup.
The company said its customers purchased enough ketchup in summer 2022 to fill more than 2.5 million cups. Specifically, New Yorkers purchased over 20 times as much ketchup as they did mustard.
Ketchup sales were up 15.4% year-over-year on a dollar basis to nearly $1.2 billion, compared to the 12.3% rise for mustard sales, which totaled $530.8 million.
Unit sales fell for both ketchup (-3.9%) and mustard (1.2%) year-over-year ending July 2, according to Circana data.
Amazon also noted regional differences when it came to mustard purchases.
“Customers in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., agree that classic yellow mustard reigns supreme, while New Yorkers, New Jerseyans, and Pennsylvanians prefer spicy brown,” read the report.
Analysis of Circana data found an interesting trend – unit sales of ketchup/mustard combinations were up 25.5% in the year ending July 2, with dollar sales rising 34.3% to about $29.5 million.
So it seems Americans are looking for something a bit more interesting in the condiments aisle, and that’s likely good news for PepsiCo as it recently launched its cola-ketchup hybrid “Colachup.”
Is the Pickle Trend Cooling Off?
As previously reported by The Food Institute, pickles were enjoying a surge in popularity in recent years, and Amazon Fresh agreed:
“Amazon Fresh customers purchased over 845,000 pounds of pickles—the weight of three blue whales and nearly double the weight of the Statue of Liberty!”
Analysis of Circana data told a slightly different story: despite an 8.5% increase in dollar sales of pickles to nearly $1.2 billion in the 52 weeks ending July 2, unit sales slumped 5.8% to 345.2 million units, trailing the condiments category as a whole.
