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, it’s 3 percent, which can make “staggering” seem a little far-fetched — until you consider it translates into 14 million lost customers who would’ve 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 company’s 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 Barclays’s 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.)
It’s not as if Whole Foods isn’t trying. The company’s lower-price 365 spinoff line was created specifically to neuter conventional supermarkets, which CEO John Mackey admits, “have upped their game.”
He’s added that they’re “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.”
I agree with almost everything you stated except tobacco....
There has never been a conclusive study, just anecdotal evidence....
Says the man who is now lighting up his gluten free, all natural, organically grown, sugar free and fat free cigar....
Meijer is my favorite. They always have great lakes fish for sale. White fish, walleye, yellow perch. Much cheaper than catching it yourself.
Nice clean store with many Hipster amenities, at least in the newish Brea CA. store. Rediculous prices but Brea might be able to sustain it. Been there twice left with next to nothing. Only good thing is that they had fresh Black Mussels. Even the local Asian 99 Market doesn’t carry them.
Nice clean store with many Hipster amenities, at least in the newish Brea CA. store. Rediculous prices but Brea might be able to sustain it. Been there twice left with next to nothing. Only good thing is that they had fresh Black Mussels. Even the local Asian 99 Market doesn’t carry them.
The word “organic” means very different things, and the decision-making process that people apply is not as simplistic as you imply. And the word “organic” means very, very different things when applied to meat and to vegetables.
At this point, the health/taste advantages of healthy animals vs. the animals that go into the cheaper meats are essentially impossible to argue with. The fat is different. The vitamin content is different (look at the difference of K2 between butter from healthy cows, and those that aren’t). The texture is different. The color is different. And so on.
The only real exception to that is bivalves. Farmed bivalves are just as healthy as wild ones, and, often healthier, because the cages can be placed in cleaner areas.
For vegetables, it depends an awful lot on the type of vegetable. I am going off of memory, but IIRC it doesn’t matter much for things like coconut, avocado, or asparagus. But, on the other hand, for blueberries, it makes a huge difference. There are measurable, and significant, differences in the production of polyphenols, and the antioxidant load is quite different.
You are viewing the question from one angle only, but the truth is that there are a lot of diverse issues involved. “Organic for organic’s sake” is clearly just marketing, but thinking that there aren’t real differences is simply wrong. Vegetables that are not left to fend for themselves do not produce the same natural pesticides, meaning that, chemically, they are not really the same plant.
I’m spoiled.
Wegmans is one of the highlights of living in NYS.
My son moved to NH and the thing he misses most about NY is ..... Wegmans.
Whenever he comes back in town for a visit, his first stop in and his last stop out are to stock up on groceries.
Wegman’s cafes are something to write home about.
They know how to do it.
Last month, we had a Publix open locally... “across the street or as close as it can get to the most upscale grocer in town”.
I believe Smith's is owned by Kroger.
No way 3% “translates into 14 million lost customers”. That would give an original customer base of 467 million, which is roughly the entire population of the US and Mexico.
Thanks for catching that. “They started with four spaces...”
Man boobs.
The gluten-free craze has come and gone, down here in Florida.
Starting to see lots of it in the discounted bins now.
I like the ballsy approach publix takes towards its competition.
They are building one across the street from Fresh Market in my town.
Wegmans is insanely cool, but they only locate in areas where highly overpaid fedgov workers or wealthy folks can spend their cash, which is good business sense. Their prices are in line with the quality of the merchandise, which is the best I have seen.
Whole Foods is suffering due to expanding outside of areas where folks have lots of disposable income, and their prices are too high, even if the quality is good.
“You don’t mind, do you? “
knock yourself out! :)
Good analysis. My taste does not notice the differences between organic vegetables and non-organic. I might cook a organic and non-organic broccoli and do a taste test in a side by side taste comparison. However, my efforts go to how the product is cooked which does make a big difference in taste.
I do notice that ground beef used to taste so good. Now, it seems as if the animals are harvested too young and have not fully developed their flavor profile. It reminds me of my friends who experienced tree-ripened bananas in Panama. They said the taste was far superior to the green ripened bananas we get in the supermarket. It tells me that production and distribution needs can sacrifice taste.
Syracuse hardly has overpaid government workers or lots of wealthy folks.
I guess it’s just a NY thing here cause many of their stores are NOT in wealthy areas here.
I suppose that for out of state, where you’re just trying to break into the market, that would be an excellent marketing strategy.
Get people hooked and then build more.
They make a ridiculous LOT of their money on their prepared, ready to cook foods. You can virtually buy a whole meal cleaned, cut up, and seasoned and just cook it and voila`, instant *home cooked* meal.
the thing is, it works because they are SO particular about their quality.
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