Albertsons’ proposed buyout of the parts of drugstore chain Rite Aid that won’t be acquired by Walgreens flings the supermarket operator into the fast-changing healthcare industry -- and has big implications for food sales as well. Albertsons plans to acquire about 2,600 Rite Aid stores, while Walgreens will acquire about another 2,000, thus ending Rite Aid’s history as a standalone company. Walgreens had intended to acquire all of Rite Aid, but backed away from that after governmental pressure. When the Albertsons/Rite Aid deal closes, …
Open Sesame: Kroger and Alibaba
It doesn’t take an enormous feat of memory to recall that quaint term “trade channels.” Yes, there was a time when apparel retailers sold apparel, food retailers sold food and department and mass merchandisers were broad-line retailers selling a little of everything. The channels were clearly distinct one from the other. So, for the most part, trade channels tended to be separate and easily definable. Well, things have changed. Those channels have all run together to form a mighty river that’s sweeping all forms of commerce into a huge …
Kroger’s Data-Driven Future
Much has been written in The Robin Report about the epic struggle between Amazon and Walmart for supremacy in U.S retailing. The advantages enjoyed by each of these behemoth retailers is obvious: Amazon is unburdened by physical store locations and ships directly to consumers; Walmart has the advantage of store locations, which are ripe to be refined into experiential venues and service points for online commerce. We’ll see how the Amazon-Walmart dynamic plays out, but in the meantime, what about mass-scale retailers that aren’t in the …
Grocerants
We live in an era of chaos. Government-by-chaos isn’t working out too well, and retailing in the era of chaotic disruptors is facing big risks as well. But hope prevails. When it comes to retailing, sometimes there’s opportunity in chaos. That’s certainly true when it comes to food retailing. Some supermarket retailers are pulling threads from restaurants and other forms of foodservice to create a hybrid that looks different, feels different and will be a part—and maybe a big part—of the future of food retailing. Borrowed Concepts Yield …
Discount Retailers Make a Move
When you’re in the retail business there’s no end to the way competitors and disruptors can derail you. Online competition has to be top of mind, but there are cultural disruptions as well, such as the decline of shopping malls plus the just plain old-aging out of old-line retailers. Sears comes to mind. Then there are the Germans. Germans? Well, if you’re in the food retail business, you might have noticed that our German friends have suddenly become major players in the grocery discount sector. Chains that are German-owned or -influenced …
Costco’s Peculiar Online Strategy
Costco may be crazy like a fox. Costco Wholesale is a huge and successful retailer. Yet there are a few recent signs that it might be increasingly difficult for Costco to maintain and grow revenue in the future as it has in the past. That hasn’t stopped Costco and it certainly isn’t sitting around waiting for that to happen. Instead, it is moving in new directions. It is also boosting its hugely successful Kirkland Signature private brand by making it available on websites that are competitive with Costco itself. At first glance, that seems …
Did Amazon Grab a Poisoned Chalice?
No one has ever accused Amazon of being risk averse. In yet another surprising and bold move that emerged late last week, Amazon proposed a buyout of the struggling Whole Foods Market specialty chain of natural-food stores for $13.7 billion, including assumption of debt. The buyout was surprising because it was not really anticipated by anyone, least of all those on Wall Street. The day prior to the announcement, Whole Foods’ stock ticked down slightly. The next day, shares soared on the news that Amazon had offered $42 per share. Indeed, …
Activist Investors Drive Change at Whole Foods
We talk a lot about disruptors and how they have turned retailing upside down, challenging the very existence of entire industry sectors. So here’s another disruptor to put into the mix: activist investors. The beleaguered Whole Foods chain is on the move at last. The retailer of organic and specialty food product has just made some uncharacteristically dramatic moves by bringing aboard five new directors and pledging to accelerate long-pending marketing and efficiency initiatives. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than meets the …