Showing posts with label Burt Flickenger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burt Flickenger. Show all posts
Sunday, May 14, 2017
Sprouts Farmer's Market coming to Philly, South Jersey
Sprouts Farmers Market, an organic and natural foods grocer with 268 stores in 15 states, is reportedly planning on a new store in Philadelphia, PA and Moorestown, NJ. Both stores would represent the first in each state.
The Philadelphia store is planned for Lincoln Square at Broad Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, a mixed-use development that Kimco is involved in. The Moorestown store would inhabit part of the space in the Moorestown Mall that Macy's recently vacated.
Sprouts expansion to the northeast comes at a time when sales of organic food has been soaring in the U.S. Until recently, Whole Foods has owned most of the organic market in Greater Philadelphia. However, Mom's Organic Market and bFresh have recently entered the market, and several traditional and discount grocery stores - like Aldi and ShopRite - have been increasing their organic and natural foods offerings. Newcomer Lidl is expected to offer a significant variety of organics, as well.
What this all leads to is "a price war of unprecedented proportions," according to Burt Flickinger III, managing director at Strategic Resource Group.
Nationally, Sprouts had reported that they have 63 sites approved for new stores and 43 signed leases "for the coming years."
As reported previously, Albertsons (Acme) is exploring an acquisition of the Sprouts chain.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
U.S. grocery sales volume weakened in December
According to published reports, U.S. grocery sales continued to slump in December, despite price deflation.
According to IRI, dollar sales were down by 1.7% (excluding mass merchants like Walmart) in the four weeks ended December 18, 2016 as compared to the same period a year earlier. In addition, sales volume was down by 2.3%. These decreases represent the weakest monthly sales growth figures since November 2013, when sales were affected by a Thanksgiving calendar shift.
BMO Capital Markets Analyst Kelly Bania was at a loss to explain the slowdown.
"We initially thought maybe there was a trade-out to restaurants. But we haven't seen anything in the restaurant data to support that," Bania said. "It doesn't look like it's a shift to Walmart either. We don't have a great explanation for it."
Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director for Strategic Resource Group, suggested that holiday promotions for department stores and mass merchants may have drawn more dollars away from grocery than usual. He also mentioned relatively light promotions from consumer goods companies as a possible culprit.
According to IRI, dollar sales were down by 1.7% (excluding mass merchants like Walmart) in the four weeks ended December 18, 2016 as compared to the same period a year earlier. In addition, sales volume was down by 2.3%. These decreases represent the weakest monthly sales growth figures since November 2013, when sales were affected by a Thanksgiving calendar shift.
BMO Capital Markets Analyst Kelly Bania was at a loss to explain the slowdown.
"We initially thought maybe there was a trade-out to restaurants. But we haven't seen anything in the restaurant data to support that," Bania said. "It doesn't look like it's a shift to Walmart either. We don't have a great explanation for it."
Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director for Strategic Resource Group, suggested that holiday promotions for department stores and mass merchants may have drawn more dollars away from grocery than usual. He also mentioned relatively light promotions from consumer goods companies as a possible culprit.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Walmart wants stores to improve fresh grocery performance
According to a New York Times story last week, Walmart execs issued a memo to store managers across the country urging them to improve performance on chilled items in its dairy, meat and produce departments in order to improve sluggish sales.
Walmart has about 20 percent of the nation's dry grocery business, but only 15 percent of the fresh grocery business, indicating that it is less competitive in that area.
The memo, leaked by an unhappy store manager, aims to ensure that aging meat and baked goods are priced appropriately so they sell before their expiration dates. The memo also tells stores to remove expired dairy products and eggs, and to execute the "Would I buy it?" mentality.
Some analysts say the problem isn't the store managers themselves, but the lack of employees to do the work needed.
"The fact that they don't do some of these things every day, every shift, shows what a complete breakdown Walmart has in staffing and training," said Retail Consultant Burt P. Flickenger III.
Although Walmart has 1.3 million American workers, a report last month issued by Wolfe Research claims that they would have 200,000 more workers if employee growth kept up with square footage growth.
Senior executives have told analysts that they recognize the problems and are allocating additional hours for workers to spend time in the deli, bakery, overnight stocking and at cash registers. However, an assistant store manager told The Times that the company was refusing to let him add more employee hours to complete these daily tasks. As a result, he said his store has been forced to throw out more milk, eggs and produce than in previous years.
Walmart has about 20 percent of the nation's dry grocery business, but only 15 percent of the fresh grocery business, indicating that it is less competitive in that area.
The memo, leaked by an unhappy store manager, aims to ensure that aging meat and baked goods are priced appropriately so they sell before their expiration dates. The memo also tells stores to remove expired dairy products and eggs, and to execute the "Would I buy it?" mentality.
Some analysts say the problem isn't the store managers themselves, but the lack of employees to do the work needed.
"The fact that they don't do some of these things every day, every shift, shows what a complete breakdown Walmart has in staffing and training," said Retail Consultant Burt P. Flickenger III.
Although Walmart has 1.3 million American workers, a report last month issued by Wolfe Research claims that they would have 200,000 more workers if employee growth kept up with square footage growth.
Senior executives have told analysts that they recognize the problems and are allocating additional hours for workers to spend time in the deli, bakery, overnight stocking and at cash registers. However, an assistant store manager told The Times that the company was refusing to let him add more employee hours to complete these daily tasks. As a result, he said his store has been forced to throw out more milk, eggs and produce than in previous years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)