Posted on 08/17/2017 2:34:35 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Competition is heating up among U.S. grocery chains, but Americans are increasingly buying their food at Walmart.
The retailer on Thursday said food sales had grown to their highest level in five years, as Walmart expands its grocery business both in stores and online by adding more organic produce. The company is also testing grocery delivery in New York, and has taken aggressive steps to compete with Amazon.com.
Weve seen strong results from the rollout of online grocery, which is now in more than 900 U.S. locations, Doug McMillon, president and chief executive of Walmart, said in a Thursday call with analysts. Were expanding this service in many of our markets around the world.
Food sales make up more half of Walmarts revenue, accounting for nearly $200 billion worth of groceries each year, said Joseph Feldman, an analyst for Telsey Advisory Group in New York. (By comparison, the countrys second-largest grocery chain, Kroger, brought in $115.3 billion last year.)
Theres been a real effort to improve fresh foods produce, meats and theyve been very aggressive in keeping prices low, Feldman said. Big picture, were feeling pretty good about Walmart.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Not meant as an attack on Wal*Mart.
However, the EBT platform (which dramatically expanded over the past 8 years) effectively redistributes income from taxpayers, to Food Stamp recipients, to giant corporations. The article states that food is half of WMTs revenue, and my guess is 30% are EBT transactions. Much of this is on our children and grandchildrens credit card.
This is big government in action, and why it’s going to be challenging to reign it in.
Hate WalMart but when the Aldi has lines backed up 12+ people and 2 out of 5 lanes open it gets very frustrating and tempers start getting short. If they had any brains they’d put in some automated cashiers already.
I buy at Smart & Final here near Los Angeles. Always amazed at the lower prices compared to a supermarket.
In the ‘hood the EBT vehicle is the corner bodega - and that is where much of the fraud is perpetrated (they’ve arrested a few Asian bodega operators here in NJ for this).
If Wal-Mart lets working people keep a little more of their earnings with low prices, they’ll always do well.
My local grocery stores are ditching more and more brand name products in favor of their house brands. Their house brands tend to have more sugar, salt, and/or other unwanted additives. I can still get brand name products at Walmart. As long as that’s the case, I’m buying from Walmart.
I like Aldi’s chicken, especially their low sodium leg quarters @ $.89/lb. and their chopped sirloin @ $3.89/lb. Frozen fish fillets are excellent, too...swai, flounder, also frozen shrimp. Cannot beat their price and quality of cheeses and produce. Milk is always under $3.00/ gallon, and eggs have been under $1/ dozen lately!
Don’t buy meat at Wal-Mart and watch the package size(s). Produce? Well...you’re on your own, varies greatly store to store and significantly by region.
I’m cooking for a crowd here (minimum of three pounds of meat per meal) and roasts are easy for pulled pork, shredded beef tacos, etc. Maybe I’ve just gotten some bad roasts? We rarely eat fish-I should try it more often.
Walmart was raked over the coals for years because they refused to go union in their grocery dept. At least they held out against the onslaught of protests, hatred and a movie to get them to cave.
Wow, that’s a lot of food! I usually buy roasts at Winn Dixie (or any other grocery store) when they’re on sale, buy one, get one. But try Aldi’s fish. Swai is $5.89 for 2 lbs. and if you bread it, it will go further — but I’m sure you know all those tricks! Swai is a nice, mild white fish that holds together well. I’m having it tonight!
Thanks-I’ll give it a try!
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