Grocery Stores

Walmart vs. Target vs. Dollar Stores

Recessionary darling Walmart saw the first down sales quarter in its history and a surprisingly weak top-line over aggressively expanding dollar stores and hard discounters. Additionally, last year it lost modest market share in package-goods sales for the first time since Information Resources Inc. began tracking the data -- while supermarkets, dollar and club stores all gained, according to Advertising Age dated March 8, 2010.

Despite its hard-hitting "Save money. Live better" ad campaign and recent ads claiming Walmart can save shoppers $55 a week compared to supermarkets, Target recently beat Walmart in a nationwide head-to-head price comparison, and a recent survey by WSL Strategic Retail showed that three-quarters of dollar-store shoppers believe those stores are cheaper than Walmart.

Kantar Retail's Management Ventures, Leon Nicholas began a competitive pricing-tracking survey last year covering 40 items at Target and Walmart, with the former beating Walmart in two of the three surveys so far. Taken every six months, the latest comparison released last month showed Target besting Walmart by 2.5%, or $7. It marked the first time it underpriced Walmart in each of three departments -- edible, non-edible dry grocery and health and beauty. Walmart actually raised prices on average across all three segments from six months ago, Mr. Nicholas said, while Target cut prices in health and beauty and non-edibles while raising them in edible grocery.

Advertising Age has the Same-Store-Sales-Growth.

One of Walmart's challenges is that while it's benefited from trade down, it's also being hurt by its own shoppers trading down to dollar stores, hard discounters such as Aldi and Super Valu's Save-A-Lot and even Goodwill thrift stores.

Dollar stores generally carry a far more limited assortment than Walmart or supermarkets, and Family Dollar has announced plans to increase the private-label share of its sales from 19% to 25%. Hard discounters such as Aldi, Save-A-Lot and Winco (another fast-growing player in Western states) carry predominantly private labels and have long been the bane of brand marketers in Europe, where they played the key role in driving Walmart Stores out of Germany.

Some suppliers believe Walmart's efforts to cut assortments may be contributing to its troubles. The effort has knocked some local and regional brands off shelves, which can put Walmart at a disadvantage to local supermarket competition. And assortment remains a primary differentiator between Walmart and clubs, dollar stores and hard discounters.

Note: As a contributor to GroceryGuide.com grocery data, Target's prices have recently been lowering for non-grocery items, and products are being packaged in double packs and larger-than-normal containers bringing the cost per unit lower. Walmart doesn't regularly distribute an ad making it difficult to price compare. GroceryGuide.com has a sampling of Walmart's everyday prices.

Dollar stores have good prices on non-grocery items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, hair care and body wash. And most accept coupons.

Go to GroceryGuide.com to do your own comparisons. Who is your price leader?

Rite Aid

Save $5 at Rite Aid on any purchase of $25 or more. This is a great coupon and they never last very long. Click here to print it.

So here is a thought, why not make a shopping list using Rite Aids current circular savings by visiting our homepage? From there, you enter your zip code and select Rite Aid. Then all sales for your local Rite Aid are shown to you as well as the printable coupons that match those sales. That way, you are buying only the items with large discounts and then further saving with the $5 off coupon for Rite Aid.

Pretty cool huh! In the shopping list for Rite Aid, we highlight those grocery sales that have coupons that match. Then make a shopping list and when you print, the coupon matching your grocery sales are printed along with your shopping list.

Don't have a Rite Aid near you? It's too bad because this coupon for $5 off is only for Rite Aid, but you can make a shopping list for other stores at groceryguide.com. Give it a try!

Grocery store chain initiates program to help shoppers

Ochsner Health System and Rouses Markets, the largest independent grocer in Louisiana, announce the Louisiana community initiative partnership, “Choose Healthy, www.choose-healthy.org.” This program is designed to educate people about the benefits of smart food and lifestyle choices, disease prevention and regular medical checkups. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Louisiana is the 8th most obese state in the U.S., with nearly 30% of all residents considered medically obese.

“People traditionally only get wellness information at the doctor’s office, clinic or hospital,” said Dr. Patrick Quinlan, CEO of Ochsner Health System, “but a grocery store is a natural setting for people to talk about nutrition and meal planning. Rouses has given us a great opportunity to reach people before they make their food choices.”

Rouses customers will find healthy, Ochsner-endorsed eating recommendations on every aisle of their market, and be able to take advantage of Ochsner education programs and materials and free health screenings, including blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and body fat. Rouses Chef Nino will be incorporating lighter and heart healthy recipes into his cooking demonstrations. Customers will also be able to access recipes and information on smart food choices, proper meal planning and disease-specific diet alternatives online at www.rouses.com and www.ochsner.org through the Choose Healthy link.

“We have always considered Rouses as more than just a place to buy groceries,” said Donald Rouse, President of Rouses Markets. “I think this will go far in educating and motivating our customers to lead healthier lifestyles. Having Ochsner-endorsed meal plans and recipes, and food recommendations clearly marked, makes it easier for people to make a healthier choice.” The partnership will also benefit Rouses’ 4,800 team members. “Ochsner will be providing free, in-store education and health screenings for our team members,” said Rouse. “If we educate our employees, they, in turn, will educate our customers.”

The way Rouse and Quinlan see it, “Choose Healthy” should also be a boost to the local economy. Rouses has long promoted buying local, and Quinlan thinks that’s an important component of the obesity solution. “Part of Louisiana’s answer to the obesity crisis is encouraging people to eat fresh, local vegetables and seafood. Educating residents on a healthy diet, and encouraging them to take advantage of our natural resources, can shrink our community’s waistline and grow our local economy,” said Dr. Quinlan.

Rouses Market Choose Healthy

Safeway stores recalling ground beef supplied by Beef Packers Inc.

Safeway Inc. said late Thursday it is recalling ground beef sold between June 6 and July 14 in nine states. The recall affects ground beef sold in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming, Safeway said. The Safeway recall was prompted by a recall by Fresno, Calif.-based Beef Packers Inc. of nearly 826,000 pounds of ground beef that may be linked to an outbreak of salmonella.

Read more:
MarketWatch 
USAD Food Safety and Inspection Service

Winn-Dixie celebrates Frozen Food Month

Winn-Dixie invites its customers to celebrate Frozen Food Month in a unique way -- by making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. When shoppers purchase select frozen food items, a portion of the sales will support Feeding America -- The Nation's Food Bank Network.

Products from Gorton's, SeaPak and Bird's Eye Foods will help fund the donation, which will be divided among Feeding America food banks within Winn-Dixie's operating areas of Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Shoppers can use their Customer Reward Card (CRC) for great savings on those products from Feb. 25 through March 10.

"Because of the down economy, we continue to experience a significant increase in the number of families and individuals needing our help," said Wayne Rieley, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida, on behalf of Feeding America. "As quickly as the food arrives on our shelves, it is moving out. It is a challenge to meet the demand. We urge the community to join in Winn-Dixie's effort to help our neighbors."

"Winn-Dixie has a long-standing tradition of giving back to the communities we serve," said Robin Miller, Winn-Dixie's director of communication. "This is just one more way for us to be a good neighbor, especially during these difficult economic times."

Read more: Winn-Dixie

A new, smaller grocery store coming to town

Supermarket giant, Supervalu, is testing a new grocery store concept with a small format. The store, Urban Fresh, of  the Jewel-Osco division will open in Chicago's Lincoln Park. The retailer has designed the 16,000-square-foot store to cater to urban consumers in affluent neighborhoods.

Sounding a lot like Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, "Urban Fresh, by Jewel" has a fresh-food focus with prepared meals being a very important offering to its time-strapped customers. The store is taking the place of Supervalu's Sunflower Market, its organic grocery concept that closed its doors at 1910 N. Clybourn Ave in Chicago's Lincoln Park in February. Urban Fresh's doors are scheduled to open this fall.

We at GroceryGuide.com are seeing more grocery chains studying and testing this type of concept as retailers struggle to find a competitive advantage over the big-box stores. With high gasoline prices, consumers are not as likely to drive to the bigger grocery stores if they can find what they need at a neighborhood store. If offer fresh produce, friendly faces, reasonable prices and accept coupons they should succeed.

Chains such as A&P have opened these smaller footprint style grocery stores. Their SuperFresh banner is found in urban downtown areas. Aldi does great with their small format. Grocery formats that match up well with the consumers needs and the lifestyles of the local neighborhood shoppers will succeed.

Read more: Urban Fresh Grocery Stores

Kroger announces “a better way to save” for Ralphs Grocery

Ralphs Grocery Co., a division of Kroger Co., Cincinnati, introduced “a better way to save” yesterday to customers at its 262 Southern California stores. Following up on a teaser ad last Sunday promising “new lower prices,” Ralphs said it was lowering the prices on thousands of items while also continuing to offer in-store and advertised specials.

Safeway plans healthy-food line pitched at kids

Grocery-store operator Safeway Inc. and media company Warner Bros. on Wednesday said they will introduce a line of food products targeted at healthy eating featuring Looney Tunes characters ranging from Bugs Bunny to Daffy Duck.

Safeway said the products will be formulated based on the most recent dietary recommendations from several federal and state agencies, including the Dept. of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, Alliance for a Healthier Generation, as well as California's school nutrition guidelines.

The Eating Right Kids, line has more than 100 food items and drinks for children. Included in the line-up are breakfast foods, portable meals, dairy, snacks and beverages.

Read more:
Safeway Inc.
Business Week
Wall Street Journal
ConsumerAffairs.com

Wal-Mart pressuring vendors to take costs out of the supply chain

"When our grocery suppliers bring price increases, we don't just accept them," says Pamela Kohn, Wal-Mart's general merchandise manager for perishables.

Size does have it's advantages and volume does give Wal-Mart an advantage when negotiating with vendors. I thought that this article in Fortune magazine would be of interest to our GroceryGuide.com visitors.

Wal-Mart has long been known for some great prices and with the current pressures on consumers they have enjoyed larger crowds of shoppers as they promote there low price message through increased media impressions.

To see how they do it and learn a new word: Locovore, read the rest of the story at CNN.

Save on gasoline at Kroger's family of stores, up to 15 cents off per gallon.

Customers throughout The Kroger Co.'s family of stores can now accumulate and redeem fuel discounts they earn by shopping at Kroger-owned stores at participating gas stations the retailer operates across the country.

Most of the fuel discount programs offered by Kroger and its family of stores reward customers with a minimum of 10 cents off per gallon of gas for every $100 they spend in a store. The fuel discount programs are available and transferable at Kroger stores nationwide under the following banners: Kroger, Baker's, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, Gerbes, Hilander, Jay C, King Soopers, Owen's, Pay Less, QFC, Ralphs, Scott's, and Smith's stores.

Shoppers who use Kroger's 1-2-3 REWARDS(R) MasterCard can earn discounts up to 15 cents off per gallon of gas in participating markets.

Read more: Kroger