Heather Campain on LinkedIn: Grocery Shop Day 1: It came in hot right from the jump. The headlining… (2024)

A powerful Harvard Business Review article every #grocer and #retailer should read! When Marshall Fisher and Santiago Gallino approached us with their groundbreaking research on labor productivity, the West Monroe team played a vital role, evaluating labor requirements for various delivery models. We also developed an interactive Grocery Simulation Calculator with The Wharton School: https://lnkd.in/daFbrdMy. Dive in and see how different online order methods stack up in terms of labor requirements. This collaboration revealed some crucial insights: 🍏 Online grocery shopping is growing, but remains a labor-intensive challenge.💰 Retailers face three strategic paths: focusing on in-store, charging online customers more, or enhancing online efficiency. A huge shoutout to Joel Brock, whose leadership was instrumental in this project and hats off to Marshall and Santiago for their exceptional research!

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“Kroger’s business model is to lower prices over time so that more customers shop with us,” according to Erin Rolfes, APR, director of communications for Kroger. But progressive senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey don’t buy that and are stirring up a media frenzy implying that Kroger is planning to use their electronic price tags to gouge customers and increase prices during peak shopping times without offering evidence. The practice called “dynamic pricing” (changing prices during periods of peak demand) is common in some industries, such as airlines, hotels, concerts and shows but is quite controversial in retail. You may recall that recently, The Wendy's Company flirted with the idea of changing prices during busy meal periods before quickly backing off for fear of angering customers.However, in a free society, merchants have the right to price merchandise anyway they want while in a socialist society (like Cuba and Venezuela) they are prevented from doing so. Yet, in a socialist society prices climb uncontrollably with 100+% inflation and goods aren’t available. Kroger operates several regional supermarket chains in 35 states, including its namesake stores and Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, Ralphs Grocery Company, Mariano's, Fry's Food and Drug, Smith's and others. The company has more than 2,700 stores.

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I've been fascinated watching the grocery retail industry continue to evolve. When Amanda Luton & I first got married, we hated doing the grocery shopping and then lugging in all the bags into our condo in Atlanta. My how things have changed since then.DYK: the data analytics company Numerator ranks the top U.S. grocery retailers by dollar share as follows:1 - Walmart (which has increased its market share each of the last 3 yrs)2 - Kroger (market share decreased each of the last 3 yrs)3 - Costco4 - Albertsons5 - PublicWe now shop the most in Kroger and Costco. Will the proposed merger between Kroger & Albertsons go through? If so, it'll be interesting to see how that changes the game.I've seen Kroger experiment with all sorts of things, both in-store and within their supply chain operations. From an in-store perspective, our local Kroger recently installed video poker machines near the pharmacy, where folks can gamble with real money. I've yet to see anyone sit down & feed the "no-armed bandits". But, we'll see how that evolves. Maybe they'll add a nightly Texas Hold 'Em cash game too! 😎 From a supply chain perspective, Kroger is doing some pretty cool work with a group called Ocado Group, as reported by Supply Chain Dive (link below in the comments). The collaboration has a big focus on decreasing Kroger's customer fulfillment center costs, while making productivity & efficiency gains."Ocado’s On-Grid Robotic Pick is a robotic arm installed on the automated fulfillment grid that packs bags with items deposited by bots that also operate on the grid, according to the announcement. Ocado’s robotic arm technology is equipped with advanced machine vision, reinforcement learning and sensing capabilities that allow it to pick tens of thousands of products and pack them into bags with “precision and accuracy"....Ocado’s Automated Frameload technology automates the physically demanding task of loading prepared customer orders onto delivery frames, eliminating the need for workers."The arms race for online grocery sales continues. Kroger looks to be better positioning itself to deliver on its growth in this part of the company's portfolio. In Q1 2024, Kroger reported 17% growth YOY in its delivery sales.If they could only figure out how groceries could be delivered - - and then put up in the shelves and the fridge, right? Hey, it's right around the corner (but that last 100 feet will be costly!).#supplychain #grocery #automation #robotics Supply Chain Now

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An interesting article in The Wall Street Journal (link in comment) looks at consumer choice.Over the past few decades, the amount of choice in almost every category of retail has exploded.Some of the growth is good. For example, in food there are now many more options for those with various food sensitivities.Some of the choice, however, is not all that well considered. It consists of retailers and manufacturers pushing out bland variants of existing products in a bid to stimulate sales.Such tactics are rarely efficient, and they are not particularly customer centric.On the customer side, too much choice takes shoppers time to consider, and it can ultimately cause decision paralysis. What consumers increasingly want, especially from a physical experience, is edited choice: a selection that is easy to consider and browse and, most important, which is relevant to them.Carrying lots of products, some of which may not sell all that well, is also inefficient. It ties up capital, reduces economies of scale, requires more physical space, and increases complexity.The rise of online players, like Amazon – where browsing lots of things can be easier and where the long-tail marketplace actually makes Amazon money via various third-party seller-fees – also reduces the imperative for physical retailers to carry every item and variety under the sun.Choice should not be confused with newness, which is necessary to pique interest and drive purchasing. Nor does any of this mean retailers should exhibit the sparseness of retailers in the old Soviet Union. However, in the year ahead when costs come under scrutiny, choice for the sake of choice is something many retailers will be cutting back on. #retail #merchandising #retailnews #choice

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Aloha Friday! 🤙🏼Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Friday, June 21:🥫 Kroger reported a decline in first-quarter earnings on Thursday amid margin pressures in its fuel and pharmacy businesses. Sales increased 0.2%, to $45.27 billion. Same store sales, excluding fuel, rose 0.5%.📦 Amazon shoppers should expect less plastic in their packages. as the retailer is moving away from plastic air pillows and replacing them with recyclable filler paper. 💵 Costco Wholesale allegedly failed to disclose price markups on products sold on its website and mobile app despiteits promise to do so, according to a recent lawsuit seeking a class-action status.🎯 Target has built an AI chatbot, called Store Companion, for store workers' hand-held devices. The chatbot can provide guidance on tasks like rebooting a cash register or enrolling a customer in the retailer’s loyalty program.🦾 Ocado Groupshares tumbled in the UK on Thursday afterSobeys, its Canadian partner, temporarily halted the planned launch of an automated warehouse in Vancouver run by the British online grocery company. 👟 Nike and Converse last weekfiled a lawsuit against 52 alleged counterfeit networks, which collectively operate 98 websites and 267 social media handles, over the sale of counterfeit goods.📚 In the first 10 months of 2022, Amazon had $16.9 billion in gross merchandise sales from its books category, a new leaked document shows. That translates to nearly $1.7 billion in average monthly book sales volume.🛠️ The Home Depot is teaming up withStrataTech Education Group (StrataTech), an operator of skilled trade schools, to expand itsPath to Pro program, which aims to educate more people in the skilled trades.🇬🇧 UK retail sales rose 2.9% in May, according to the Office for National Statistics, with strong sales across clothing retailers and furniture stores helping them beat the average 1.5% increase forecast by economists.💳 PayPalhas hired Srini Venkatesan, a formerWalmartexecutive, as its new chief technology officer. Mr Venkatesan will oversee technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.🍽️ Darden Restaurants CEO Rick Cardenas said certain casual-dining chains are stealing some fast-food restaurants’ customers. Chili’s, Applebee’s and other casual-dining chains have been trying to win over fast-food diners.🍔 McDonald's has revealed the details of its highly anticipated $5 value meal, which the fast food chain hopes will rev up sluggish sales and lure back customers who havecut back.🚢 Leading shipping groups have urged governments with influence to put a stop to Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea after a second freightersank this week.🇦🇺 Workers atWoolworths Supermarkets, one of Australia's largest grocers, have voted in favor of a new pay deal. The vote saw 62% of workers in favor.#retail #retailnews #economy#DailyRetailNews

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Absolutely agree with this.I remember when my parents came back from a posting in the Caribbean and my mother really struggled with decision paralysis doing their weekly food shop. It's part of the reason I now do most of my weekly shop in Aldi, where choice is limited. However, and this is the important thing - choice should perhaps be available more on brands and variants in terms of flavour etc. but NOT on pack formats/sizes - this is where the range proliferation has got out of control. And it only seems to be in some categories - I posted recently about how Soft Drinks ranges have been significantly cut, but there are other categories where this needs to happen.Shoppers do not need 10 different pack formats and sizes of essentially the same product - look at the sales values and be proactive in your delists.

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We're excited to see Grocery Doppio featured in TIME! The article highlights the shift towards digital price labels in grocery stores and the benefits of this technology for retailers and consumers.Our report on Workforce challenges found that 68% of grocers have found it “difficult” or “very difficult” to staff up, which is one of the reasons why stores are turning to electronic labels to increase efficiency.Thank you, Simmone Shah, for including our insights in your article. It's great to see the discussion about how digital price labels can help save money, reduce labor challenges, and lower food waste.Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dvJUdBPS#GroceryEcommerce #RetailTech #DigitalInnovation #GroceryDoppio

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Since the first Self-checkout concept has been installed, Kroger Atlanta 1986, it has been introduced as a win-win option for both consumers and retailer alike... but after a recent upsticksome in numbers, some would say it became more a "Lesser Evil" than a real "win-win" situation.On paper, Self-checkout is saving time for consumers (with limited number of articles) by reducing waiting lines but most systems encounter (too often) technical glitches leading to frustrating experience for consumers and retailers.As a reminder to retailers, everybody isn't #genz, particularly elders or less tech-savvy individuals find it too challenging to use.From retailers' perspective, Self-checkout reduce labor costs, in other hand Self-Checkout can be prohibitively costly to buy and to keep operational, less struggle to find cashiers but in a high inflation situation more potential #shoplifting or unintentional errors imposing the use of more and more intrusive tech using #ai or human monitoring.Some, system providers mainly..., are stating it can increase global throughput, customers and employees alike (faster transaction) improving overall store efficiency, obviously reduces cash handling (mainly digital transactions) and #datacollection as retailers can collect data on customer purchasing behavior, enabling better targeted marketing and inventory management.Space Efficiency: Self-checkout stations typically take up less space than traditional checkout lanes, allowing retailers to optimize store layouts.Lately we've heard allkinds of contradictory statementsabout Self-Checkout (miserable) state, mainly consumer disaffection but what about facts, figures and stats ? Negative impact on inventory loss might outpace original expected advantages after all. Next article should be about facts not just perception

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The #FTC is hold to launch a probe into #grocery prices. Cost of goods, cost to supply/supply chain costs have risen for various reasons, which has driven prices up… however not all price increases seem to be cost related… The consequence of this focus is likely going to result in:1. Manufacturers will look at their pack size/ pricing, using downsizing to address perceived costs2. Retailers will look to increase trade promotions which impacts margins for manufacturers - especially if they do not have decent trade model simulation capabilities3. Retailers like Walmart will put pressure on brands to manage prices - future price increases will require more justification and existing prices may come under scrutiny.Margins are going to be an increasing focus for both manufacturers and retailers alike. The cost to manage CPG orgs and the processes to support them are likely to come into focus with executives looking to leverage technology (#AI) to address. The theme of 2025 in CPG will be how to optimize businesses with AI; having a perspective on your 2025 strategy week be mandatory.Clients are ahead talking to me/us about this at Wisdom Analytics Inc. where we are working with them to roadmap their ‘25 strategy. Of this is of interest, please DM me! #cpg #fmcg # wisdomanalytics #pricing

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For suppliers concerned about new charges for data by Sainsbury's, there are alternative solutions to mitigate costs.AiM has introduced a 'Donor' function in our predictive Commercial Planning & RGM Platform, leveraging AI to optimize profits per account. By analyzing SKU uplift patterns using data from the Market or various retailers and aligning them with your account commercials, such as COGS/Terms etc, you can tailor the planning tools for specific retailers & JBPs, i.e. JS, but without using their data.While not as precise as AiM's typical 98% accuracy, and you can't see your category share etc. this approach allows for pricing, promotion, and profit optimization, potentially saving reportedly up to £400k. Plus we guarantee to find a profit uplift opportunity greater than 3% of turnover or no charge. If you're an FMCG supplier or consultancy/agency and are interested in exploring this further, feel free to message/DM me.#revenuemanagement #fmcg #pricing #branding #consumergoods

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