You can tell a lot about the mood of the Great American Consumer simply by tracking the Kroger (KR) - Get Kroger Company (The) Report Digital Coupons Page.

That’s exactly what the data analysts at 84.51°, a retail data science firm located in Cincinnati, Ohio, did in the firm’s latest Inflation Special Edition Digest. The team’s survey tracked 400 customers who had shopped at a Kroger in the past three months.

“Shopper concern remains more severe when it comes to inflation, compared with COVID,” the 84.51° Digest reported. “71% of consumers are extremely concerned about rising prices while 47% believe that prices will remain higher for the next one-plus years.”

To better cope with skyrocketing consumer prices, shoppers are continuing to change their behaviors. “Kroger has seen an increase of 15% in site visits to the Kroger Digital Coupons page between May and June 2022,” the report noted.

With the so-called “Kroger Index”, 84.51° also dug up some additional nuggets on where U.S. consumers stand right now with their household financial outlook -- and it isn’t pretty.

This is from the company study:

• 57% of Americans regularly look for sales/deals/coupons

• 56% have reduced the amount of driving they do due to rising fuel prices

• 36% are purchasing less meat and fish

• 34% are shopping less frequently for groceries

• 31% are going out or ordering out less than they used to (61% are preparing food at home, up from 52% in June, and 50% say they will eat out less in the coming months.)

Click here to read the full The Street article.