Posted on 03/28/2017 2:20:32 PM PDT by drewh
New market data has somehow managed to make Whole Foods beleaguered lot look even worse. On top of reports last week that rival Albertsons was sniffing around Sprouts Farmers Market, an upstart organic grocer and wellness store whose prices are about 19 percent cheaper on average than Whole Foods, there are now some new numbers suggesting the high-end grocery chain is also still hemorrhaging shoppers.
Foot traffic has dipped once again, Barclays analysts note, straight-up describing the magnitude this time as staggering. Technically, its 3 percent, which can make staggering seem a little far-fetched until you consider it translates into 14 million lost customers who wouldve spent an average of between $30 to $50.
An even harder pill to swallow? Those shoppers had to go somewhere, and it looks like Kroger not a place most people visit for their kale ice cream or tofu-ginger rice muffins is the primary benefactor.
It now has multiple aisles of natural foods (many of which are available under the companys own organic house brand, Simple Truth), as well as a formidable selection of organic produce.
Prices are, no surprise, less than the cost of similar items at Whole Foods; and that no doubt partly explains why, per Barclayss figures, Kroger did $16 billion in organic and natural-food sales last year, while Whole Foods did just $15.8 billion.
(This is a little apples to oranges, since Kroger has 2,796 locations and Whole Foods has 462, but still.)
Its not as if Whole Foods isnt trying. The companys lower-price 365 spinoff line was created specifically to neuter conventional supermarkets, which CEO John Mackey admits, have upped their game.
Hes added that theyre going to do the best job that we can to keep people from migrating back over to those guys, but data suggest a migrated customer is a gone customer. As most retailers know, the Barclays report says, once traffic has been lost, those patterns rarely reverse.
Gee, who woulda thunk price would determine volume
Wegmans building in NJ (very close) and I cannot wait !!
WF is expensive, but their produce and meat are excellent. Their 365 organic stuff is good, also. I do not like the anti-gun policy, but to their credit, WF keeps armed security at the stores I go to.
Folks who think that cheap, factory farmed “medical meat” is the same as organic are misinformed. Grass-fed beef and heirloom chicken are completely different than their conventional, GMO-fed, antibiotics-pumped counterparts. I would rather switch to vegan than consume the conventional trash.
Part of the long term solution to health care should be relatively small-scale family farming, preferably organic.
Yes, Aldi can’t be your only store. I usually hit it every couple of weeks. The same with the big Walmart. The small Walmart grocery is for day to day, and the Kroger when I need something unusual or fancy. Fiesta is for specialty items or a cross cultural experience, but they probably have the freshest produce.
The younger generation that isn’t obsessed with Organics and non Gluten bs started labeling Whole Foods as Whole Pay Check a few years ago.
More and more people are figuring that out.
Don’t they have a “store card” if you ask at the register?
Many chains do, to avoid pissing off customers who are on vacation, but you have to ask.
How about Price Chopper/Market 32? I heard from my brother that Wegmans might be expanding into Connecticut. They just opened a store in the Boston area...
I used to go to Whole Foods a lot but the regular supermarkets have really upped their game by offering many of the quality foods WF sells at much lower prices. Basically stay on the perimeters of a typical supermarket and you’ll do OK. But I do dart into the beer aisle!
The exact opposite of how Safeway destroyed the longstanding Dominick’s chain in and around Chicago.
I like the air-chilled chicken. You can really tell the difference.
I hate the prices of organic foods. People who do buy only organic foods think they are protecting themselves from getting cancer. They do not realize most that cancer is the results of DNA copy errors:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3538499/posts
High-energy radiation, such as x-rays, gamma rays, alpha particles, beta particles, and neutrons, can damage DNA play a large part of environmentally caused cancer. Up to 10% of invasive cancers are related to radiation exposure. Another environmental cause of cancer is tobacco. How many people smoke tobacco and buy at Whole Foods because they fear getting cancer? How many people lay out in the sun or go to tanning salons and buy Whole Foods’ organic to avoid cancer. Yet, there is little data that conventional methods of food production cause more cancerous outcomes. To me the entire organic industry is a marketing strategy playing on people’s uneducated fears.
you never had to leave your air conditioned or heated car.
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Yeah because having a life cuts into screen time. sarc
Never went to the Whole Foods across town in Richmond. There are a few other niche stores like Trader Joe’s and Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market right near them.
I’m on the southwest side of Richmond, close in. Within maybe a 5 or 6 mile radius, we have:
Kroger x 3
Martin’s - formerly Ukrop’s stores (had 4, now down to a couple and fading)
Walmart x 2
Food Lion x 4
Aldi (new) x 2
Wegman’s (new)
Fresh Market
Grand Mart (ethnic foods)
under construction: Lidl
All the grocery experts think our small area is completely saturated, but they keep on coming. I guess the damned Yankees moving into this area have money.
Me, I would rather be home with my family, cooking dinner.
Went into Sprouts today on Falls of Neuse Road in Raleigh for the first time and was surprised by the prices they had there. I thought they would be as expensive as Whole Foods but they are not. Found that the place is open, airy, and light. Want to go back again.
A Whole Foods store a couple of miles from my house opened a year ago. It is closed now. We have no Krogers in Utah. But we have Trader Joes now. Whole Foods is insanely expensive. Watch the people come out of the store. You will seldom see anyone with more than one bag.
Another interesting thing is that food in usual supermarkets is less expensive in Utah than say SoCal. Yet WF is more expensive in Utah than LA. This indicates severe price gouging by WF in Utah. At least in Utah you don’t get harassed by faggots with their stupid petitions in the parking lot like you do in LA.
WF has also severely curtailed their stocks of supplements. So there’s no point in having an expensive organic store when Walmart and Smiths and others are carrying organic stuff cheaper. WF can go belly up afaic.
The Kroger store nearest me has that “ClickList” pickup. I think the local Walmart has it now.
The recent Kroger Marketplace (largest store in the Mid-Atlantic region) even has a satellite police station. Said they would walk you to your car on request. The former Cloverleaf Mall site isn’t in the nicest of areas.
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