Word: wal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...There really is a crisis in the industry," says Gary Giblen, head analyst at boutique Manhattan research firm CL King & Associates. The sky started falling--along with same-store sales--in 2001, as alienated shoppers began steering their grocery carts not only toward Wal-Mart's food-laden Supercenters but also toward warehouse clubs, discount chains, drugstores, dollar stores and, on the high end, trendy salutes to organic produce. "Conventional supermarkets really have no reason to exist anymore," says Giblen. "They're basically becoming convenience stores...
...least on par with his peers'. He also maintains that his tough stance on labor negotiations--which resulted in a strike in Southern California that cost the region's big three chains some $350 million in earnings last quarter--won enough concessions to stay competitive, even after Wal-Mart unleashes its Supercenters in the area. The next step, experts agree, is to continue narrowing the price gap with the world's largest retailer and find a way to justify the remaining premium. Here's what supermarkets need to do to avoid the ultimate checkout...
...After Wal-Mart launched its Supercenter format in 1991, it took the company three years to reach $1 billion in annual U.S. grocery sales. But a mere decade later, it is topping $100 billion a year, which is almost as much as the sales of the next three biggest chains combined. "To a certain extent, Wal-Mart's strength is more of a reflection of the lack of difference among stores," says Willard Bishop, a supermarket consultant in Barrington, Ill. Conventional grocers are starting to get the message--differentiate or die--which is why some are jazzing...
...mood seems to work. "There's something about this place that isn't in-your-face stimulating," says Cathy Beerbower, 45, who frequents the new Marsh store in Fort Wayne, Ind. And her reason for avoiding the local Wal-Mart--"it's too chaotic"--could be the industry's salvation. Kroger is trying to emulate the swanky Whole Foods scene in a few of its 2,500 stores by adding in-store chefs, gourmet meals and upscale wines. Likewise, Safeway, which is making a huge push into quality perishables in general and prepared foods in particular, is doing so with...
...Meijer, the Michigan retailer that invented the supercenter way back in 1962, the top brass would no doubt argue against such a strategy. Sales plummeted at the company when Wal-Mart started moving into its strongholds a few years ago. "They sold everything we sold and ran promotions that we could not match," says Jim Jensen, 46, who was managing a 209,000-sq.-ft. Meijer in Howell, Mich., when a Wal-Mart moved in across the street in 2000. Jensen responded with six-hour price specials, supersales and coupons galore, and when those initiatives failed to pull the store...