Target acquires Shipt, plans same-day delivery

Target announced earlier this month that it plans to acquire Shipt, an Instacart competitor that currently serves 72 US markets and delivers products to customers from supermarket chains including H-E-B, Harris Teeter and Meijer, among others. Target has agreed to pay $550 million for the company and expects to roll out same-day delivery services to half of its stores by early 2018.

Shipt customers currently pay $99 annually for unlimited deliveries. Instacart's fee is $149.

Target said that Shipt would conitnue to run its business independently. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.

Seven grocers in top 30 U.S. private companies

Forbes published its 33rd annual ranking of America's largest private companies, and seven grocers landed in the top 30. (Cargill topped the overall list, with $109.7 billion in sales, followed by Koch Industries).

Albertsons, with several banners including Albertsons, Safeway and Acme, is third on the overall list and the top grocer, with $59.7 billion in sales and 273,000 employees.

Also on the list:

#7: Publix Super Markets
#10: C&S Wholesale Grocers
#12: HE Butt Grocery (H-E-B)
#16: Meijer
#25: Southeastern Grocer (Bi-Lo, Harveys, Winn-Dixie)
#27: Hy-Vee

Shipt to begin Costco delivery service

Shipt, a delivery service headquartered in Birmingham, AL, announced late last month that it would start delivering Costco products to customers in Tampa, FL, with plans to expand Costco service to 50 markets by the end of the year. Shipt says it is already working with Whole Foods, H-E-B, Harris Teeter and Meijer.

For a $99 annual fee, Shipt customers will get unlimited Costco deliveries, and will have a one-hour window for when merchandise is dropped off. The company says it plans to deliver from stores, not from warehouses.  

Aldi is the affordable price leader, according to recent study

Earlier this week a new study by Market Force Information, conducted in March with 6,100 participants in the U.S. and Canada, determined that Aldi is the low price grocery leader. Other grocers that topped the list include Costco, Giant Foods, ShopRite, Walmart, Safeway, H-E-B, Kroger, Meijer and Publix.

Other findings included the following:

• Walmart ranked highest among respondents in offering a one-stop retailer for all their needs, but the chain didn't score well in providing high-quality meat, produce, organic products and courteous staff.
• Publix scored the highest in offering an inviting atmosphere and environment-friendly policies.
• Sixty-seven percent of consumers indicated their grocer choice is primarily driven by its convenient location, followed by price (57%) and sales and promotions (52%).
• High-quality produce proved to be more important to shoppers than high quality-meat.