Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice

Love it or hate it, here’s a closer look at the official flavor of fall according to data from Instacart

With fall on the horizon, it’s time to trade in your cutoffs and hard seltzers for cozy sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes. With the official flavor of fall already making its grand debut in the form of latté and cold brew offerings around the nation, we wanted to find out which pumpkin spice food and beverage products are the most popular amongst consumers along with the states that take the autumnal trend seriously and buy the most compared to the rest of the country. 

Here’s the (PSL-flavored) tea…

Pumpkin Spice: Surging Earlier Than Ever 

“This year, Instacart searches for ‘pumpkin spice’ surged earlier than ever before — starting in late July — which means many people already have fall on their mind and are looking forward to seasonal flavors,” said Laurentia Romaniuk, Instacart’s Trends Expert. “Although pumpkin spice momentum has already started to pick up, searches via Instacart tend to peak at the same time each year in early October, and we expect a similar pattern this year.”

The Top 10 Pumpkin Spice Products

Top categories featured in terms of total Instacart orders in 2020

1. Pumpkin spice coffee creamers
2. Pumpkin pie spice 
3. Pumpkin spice ground coffee
4. Pumpkin spice cream cheese
5. Pumpkin spice pumpkin bread
6. Pumpkin spice buns & rolls
7. Pumpkin spice cereal
8. Pumpkin spice frozen waffles
9. Pumpkin spice packaged cookies
10. Pumpkin spice bottled coffee drinks

Here’s a closer look at the top pumpkin spice products:

• Breakfast, but make it seasonal. All of the top pumpkin spice-flavored food and drink products are either breakfast items or can be used to make a delicious and sweet fall-inspired breakfast. 
  • Additionally, quick oats (+821%), protein bars (+745%), pancake & waffle mix (+228%), and cereal (+218%) are also among the fastest-growing pumpkin spice products from the past year compared to 2019 that are bubbling up and catching consumers’ attention. 

• Morning brew: creamer > coffee. Pumpkin spice coffee creamer is the top purchased product within the category and represents nearly half (46%) of all pumpkin spice item purchases on Instacart. 
  • In fact, if you drank one serving of pumpkin spice creamer per day from all that we delivered during the fall 2020 season, it would take you 362,884 years to finish.

These states buy the most and least pumpkin spice products per capita compared to the rest of the nation…

Who’s buying the most? 

Percent (%) based on how likely each state is to purchase a pumpkin spice item compared to the national average.

• West Virginia (122%)
• Iowa (90%)
• North Carolina (62%)
• Ohio (60%)
• Wisconsin (58%)

Who’s buying the least? 

Percent (%) based on how likely each state is to purchase a pumpkin spice item compared to the national average.

• Hawaii (-65%)
• Washington, D.C. (-49%)
• Louisiana (-42%)
• Massachusetts (-37%)
• Minnesota (-36%)

It should come as no surprise that West Virginia buys the most pumpkin spice products per capita since it’s a destination known for its incredible fall foliage and stunning autumnal landscapes. On the other hand, it’s always summer on the tropical Hawaiian islands, which explains why they’re least likely to jump on the fall pumpkin spice bandwagon. 

It should also be noted that midwestern and southeastern states are more likely to purchase pumpkin spice products compared to states in the west and northeast, which might have something to do with the fact that apple harvest and picking season is thriving in those U.S. regions, resulting in different seasonal flavor preferences.  

Happy Fall y’all! 🍂☕

Methodology: Instacart determined who is buying the most and least amount of pumpkin spice products by measuring the relative share of pumpkin spice items purchased compared to the national average.

Adjusting for Growth: We adjust Instacart growth percentages by the overall growth of total deliveries. Doing so removes the influence of our platform growth so we can focus on the change in consumer behavior.

Instacart

Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.