Is Kroger destroying Whole Foods?

Despite renewed efforts to slash some prices in produce and packaged foods, organic grocer Whole Foods (WFM - Get Report) is still having difficulty shedding its "whole paycheck" image, much to the delight of hard-charging traditional supermarket Kroger. According to a new price checking survey Whole Foods is making "slow but steady progress" on improving its prices. But the survey found that Whole Foods remains grossly overpriced relative to grocery stores that have ramped up their discounts and offerings in the natural food space. Whole Foods' price premium on a basket of items increased during the fourth quarter to 29.4% from 28% in the third quarter. Kroger's third quarter marked an astounding 48 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth. For the quarter, Kroger's same-store sales rose 5.4%, outpacing Whole Foods' 0.2% decline. Kroger said it saw an increase in both the number of households shopping at its stores and a lift in the number of visits per household. Read more

The latest Kantar Worldpanel data show a number of trends emerging. One is the continued rise of the discounters. Aldi and Lidl saw sales grow some 15.4pc and 17.9pc year on year, and now account for 10pc of the UK grocery market. That rise will only continue. A second trend is continued problems for the two largest retailers, Tesco and Asda, who saw drops of 3.4pc each in quarterly sales, and reductions in market share. Dave Lewis, Tesco’s chief executive, needs to get on top of the slowdown – and fast. There are five moves which might help him on his way. Read more

Alongside organic sales growth, Waitrose is pursuing further market share gains by continuing the expansion of its bricks and mortar footprint achieved in recent years. The majority of these newly created roles will be within 14 new branches scheduled to open across the UK from spring next year. This is in contrast to many of its competitors who are curtailing and reversing their store expansion plans amidst an increased focus on reducing operational costs and strengthening their core estate. Waitrose's 14 new store openings will include 5 new supermarkets and 9 Little Waitrose convenience stores as the retailer looks to meet more local shoppers' needs more frequently by expanding beyond its traditional supermarket format.

From computerised healthy shopping trolleys to in-store nutritionists, supermarkets around the globe are gradually encouraging customers to make healthier food choices. Produce Business UK takes a closer look at the innovations that are already making their way into UK fresh produce aisles and how they can help today’s shoppers Read more

Asda’s share of the grocery market has hit a nine-year low as the pace of supermarket discounting stepped up ahead of Christmas. Sales declined at Tesco, Asda and Morrisons in the three months to 6 December, according to the latest figures from data company Kantar Worldpanel. Asda’s share of the market fell to 16.2%, as its sales slid by 3.4%. It lost further ground to Sainsbury’s, which now has the second biggest share after Tesco. Sainsbury’s increased sales by 1.2%, with Kantar citing strong trade in its champagne, sparkling wine and premium own-label Taste the Difference ranges. The supermarket may also have been helped by the popularity of its advert featuring cartoon cat Mog, which has been seen 24m times on YouTube, and a successful Black Friday. Sainsbury’s said it sold two and a half times the amount of goods as it did last year over the weekend of the late November discount day. But the chain’s performance was far outshone by fast-growing discounters Aldi and Lidl, where sales rose by 15.4% and 17.9% respectively, enabling them to hold on to a combined market share of 10%, achieved for the first time last month.

Freshop, Inc., a comprehensive grocery e-commerce solution, announced today that its platform is now live in each of Sendik’s Food Market’s eleven full-line stores, making Sendik’s the first grocer in the greater Milwaukee area to implement an online shopping platform. Thanks to Freshop, customers in Milwaukee can now make and pay for grocery selections online via Sendik’s Express, and then pick them up in stores. Read more

AisleOne is the latest online groceries application to hit the Australian market. Enthusiastically billed as a “world-first virtual shopping experience”, the app attempts to simulate real-life shopping via an interactive, 3D representation of a grocery store. It’s essentially a virtual shopfront that blends e-commerce with traditional retail.

Browsing is made easy thanks to the touch-optimised interface — you simply swipe your finger to flick between aisles which are categorised by food type, just like a normal grocery store. Clicking on individual products causes them to zoom into the foreground alongside additional information such as price, weight/volume and ingredients. To purchase an item, you drag it into the basket icon at the foot of the screen. Read more

According to a Nielsen survey, one-quarter of global respondents say they are already ordering grocery products online, and more than half are willing to use it in the future. And with more and more consumers skipping long lines for convenience that’s a click away, it’s not surprising sales are climbing. Sales from online grocery are expected to jump more than 16% to $13 billion this year, according to market research firm IBIS World. Two companies looking to reap those benefits include Amazon and Wal-Mart. Amazon’s AmazonFresh offers registered users in select areas same-day and early morning delivery for a yearly membership fee of $299. Wal-Mart’s online grocery service is still in test mode, but for a $3 to $7 fee, consumers can shop more than 30,000 items. Meanwhile, third-party delivery service Instacart has partnered with Target, Whole Foods Market, Costco and Petco to bring groceries and goods to customers in an hour. Read more

Wal-Mart said Tuesday its is investing more than $65.7 million in Tennessee to raise the pay of 42,300 workers at Walmart stores across Tennessee, including 11 superstores and six grocery outlets in metropolitan Chattanooga. The world's biggest retailer said it is making a $2.7 billion investment over two years in its U.S. workforce to raise wages, provide better training and increase scheduling choice and flexibility. By February, the new full-time average hourly wage in Tennessee will be $13.34 an hour and $10.48 an hour for part-time associates. Read more

THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced last week it has begun legal action against Woolworths for “unconscionable conduct”, alleging the supermarket sought $60 million in supplier payments to plug a profit gap. The ACCC claims that in December last year, Woolworths managers introduced a scheme to cut a shortfall in half-year profit by December 31. The scheme, called Mind the Gap, was designed to obtain payments from a group of suppliers to “support” Woolworths. It was made clear to suppliers that refusing to comply with the request for payments would be seen as not supporting the retailer. These payments ranged from $4291 to $1.4 million and it is believed $18.1 million was collected from the suppliers. Read more

The supermarket industry is increasingly geared to innovation. A new project of Carrefour hyper has opened in the shopping center of Grand Prés city ​​of Mons in Belgium. The project, company claims to revolutionize the shopping experience of the visitors. Carrefour recently opened its largest store in Asia at Siyuanqiao in Beijing. The store was French retailer’s first self-owned property store in China. With an area of 71,380 square meters, this new store offers nearly 40,000 products, including over 6,000 imported products. Read more

French supermarket operator Casino Guichard- Perrachon SA plans to sell some of its real estate in Thailand and Colombia as it seeks to cut debt by more than 2 billion euros (78.7 billion baht) next year. The project includes selling operations in Vietnam. Casino is seeking to raise money from operations outside of France, and shift debt away from its domestic business. A sale of Latin American supermarket assets announced in July raised about 1.7 billion euros. Read more