Posted on 03/08/2006 2:02:37 AM PST by beaversmom
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. aims to be the mass-market provider of organic food, and will have doubled its organic offerings over the next couple of weeks, Wal-Mart's head of dry grocery told Reuters on Monday.
DeDe Priest, who was promoted to senior vice president of dry grocery in December, said the retailer has no intention of becoming a health food store, but wants to make organic food accessible to all.
"What you're going to see is over the next couple of weeks, we're going to have doubled our SKU (stock keeping unit) count," Priest said at the Reuters Food Summit in Chicago.
The move comes as Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, is bringing in more upscale merchandise in the hope of getting shoppers to buy more than just the basics.
Wal-Mart is the top U.S. grocery seller and also No. 1 in organic milk sales. It carries organic baby food, juice, produce and pasta sauce, but will be expanding its offerings to include products ranging from pickles to macaroni and cheese.
Priest said Wal-Mart has paid close attention to the small-but-growing organic market for several years, and decided to make its move now as studies show a majority of U.S. consumers buy at least some organic food.
She declined to say what percentage of Wal-Mart's food offerings would be organic, but said the retailer wants to be the access point for organic foods at a value, and "knock out the myth that it's just for the rich."
Priest met with CEOs from 15 of the top consumer products companies in her first week on the job to stress the importance of organics and press them to expand their offerings.
For food manufacturers, getting into a new category such as organics can be risky without a retailer committed to selling those products, so Wal-Mart's push into organics will likely drive more production.
Organics remain a small part of the U.S. food industry, but they present a key growth opportunity for Wal-Mart as the retailer looks for ways to get customers to buy more.
Wal-Mart already draws some 100 million U.S. customers to its stores each week, so the focus has been on convincing existing customers who may shop Wal-Mart for food to buy designer clothing or flat-panel televisions as well.
Priest declined to comment on pricing strategies, but said the retailer would not be making "extra money" on organics.
"Our focus is never really to grow our margin, it's to grow our absolute sales," Priest said.
I don't think there is a universally agreed-upon definition of the term, "organic food," is there?
Food composed of carbon compounds.
:-)
The down side: It's all organic food imported from China.
"I don't think there is a universally agreed-upon definition of the term, "organic food," is there?"
Food that looks exactly like regular food, except it's two dollars more.
On the 147 sq. mile island I live on, organic means grown locally using tools provided by God, not by Pfizer. It tastes like God intended and his palate seems preferable to those of a chemical factory lab to me, but then I'm old-fashioned.
Most of the time (not all of the time) I can't tell the difference in taste at the produce level, and the added nutritional benefit is questionable; however, carnivores need to jump on the organic meat bandwagon 'cuz it's just incredibly tasty!!
You think you like beef now, just get hold of a great organic steak and you'll be in heaven! Chicken tastes like chicken! Pork is impossibly flavorful!!
Has anyone else noticed that every piece of Walmart's "fresh" meat includes 5% "broth"? What is that? Oh, and 6 weeks until it expires?
I love my local Super Walmart but I don't touch that stuff.
Now you've just got to convince Wal-Mart to adhere to your definition.
What, no sea salt?
You better compare your definition with the USDA legal definition...
'You think you like beef now, just get hold of a great organic steak and you'll be in heaven! Chicken tastes like chicken! Pork is impossibly flavorful!!'
It's all I eat - if I haven't seen the animal in a field, I don't eat it. Growth hormones and the like are banned here. The local rabbits and pheasant are superb and a friend of mine drops me in a lobster most days from the pots I can see from my front window. Proper organic isn't about supermarkets, it's about straight from farm to stove.
What's a Wal-mart? ;-)
I buy my food off farmers with muddy boots!
Dunno what the USDA is - we're a long way from America!
If it's lived in a field all it's life, never seen a chemical and got to my plate within a day of leaving the field, that's what matters to me.
Your probably a lot better off. This surge of so called 'organic food' on the market (especially foreign grown food) worrys me. I keep getting this picture in my mind of the Mexicans using human waste to fertilize their crops.
The up side: The granola crowd will be ticked.
'I keep getting this picture in my mind of the Mexicans using human waste to fertilize their crops.'
Why would that worry you? Human and animal waste has been used as fertiliser for 1000's of years. Your local sewerage treatment plant recycles your waste into fertiliser that's then spread on fields. If you live in anything bigger than a large town, your water has probably gone through 7 other people before you drink it! Personally I consider all of this preferable to what goes into a MuckDonalds burger! :D
We have several organic gardens at our home. We use animal waste but, only in the compost which is heated to high temps before spreading on the gardens. I heard, in Mexico, they basically just divert their untreated sewage on to the crops. I know they use pesticides and other chemicals that are no longer used in the US. BTW; Natural organic meat products are not only better for you but, they taste better too.
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