Abbott, 3M and PepsiCo at the till: our same-store read on Q3

Abbott, 3M and PepsiCo have reported their third quarters. Here is what our point-of-sale data showed for the same weeks: what shoppers actually paid for at the tills of the US grocery chains in our panel, compared with the same weekdays a year earlier.

These aren't forecasts, and they aren't the companies' revenue. Each company sells far more than grocery shelves carry, and our figures cover only what went through those tills. They are a consistent, independent read on one part of each business.

Subscribe for updates

We‘ll never share your email with anyone else.

Subscribe

How we measure

Every figure below is same store and like for like. We compare only stores that traded in both years, so stores opening or closing don't count as growth. We credit last year's sales to this year's owner of each brand, so acquisitions and spin-offs don't either. And we compare each company with the market: every sale in those same stores, branded or not. Each window is 91 days and ends inside the quarter the company has just reported.

Across these chains, same-store sales were down 3 to 4% on a year earlier over the summer.

Abbott: +45.6% against the market

Abbott reported revenue of $13.01bn against $13.13bn expected, and EPS of 1.42 against 1.43. At the till, over the 91 days to 16 September, its same-store sales were up 40.7%, or 45.6% against the market, with units up 28.6% against it.

The driver is infant formula. From February 2026, sales at these chains moved sharply from Reckitt's formula to Abbott's, and the shift has grown each month since. Over the quarter to June, Reckitt's same-store sales were down 32%. This is a change in one category at US grocery: Abbott's devices, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals don't pass through these tills at all.

3M: -2.3% against the market

3M reported revenue of $6.58bn against $6.68bn expected, 1.4% short, and EPS of 2.50 against 2.41. Over the 91 days to 15 September, its same-store sales were down 5.6%: 2.3% behind the market, with units 3.3% behind. Grocery is a small part of 3M; this is the household and office products shoppers pick up there.

PepsiCo: -10.9% against the market

PepsiCo reported revenue of $25.27bn against $25.21bn expected, and EPS of 2.34 against 2.32. Over the 91 days to 3 September, its same-store sales were down 14.4%: 10.9% behind the market. Units fell less than sales, 6.1% behind the market, so shoppers paid less on average per item: deeper promotions, smaller packs, or a shift in mix.

The wider picture

Most large branded companies were behind the market this summer. The market here includes fresh food and store brands, so part of that is branded goods losing share to them at these chains, not only to each other.

Any company's figure for its last reported quarter costs $0.01 from our API, with no account: api.decadata.io. For every company and brand, from T+3, get in touch.

Photo by sq lim on Unsplash.