Retail Rundown
August Online Grocery Sales Rise U.S. online grocery sales surged 8.7% in August year-on-year, reaching $9.3 billion, as reported by the Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping
REWE to add LIVIE Logo to Own- brand Blueberries
Major German supermarket chain REWE is introducing the LIVIE logo to its Beste Wahl blueberries sold in its stores in the Southwest
of the country. Emulating the ‘Intel Inside’ concept, the LIVIE brand symbolizes only the highest quality Sekoya blueberries that are consistent in taste, size and firmness. REWE seeks to address market demand for consis- tent quality, as it says that more than half of current blueberry consumer experiences are negative. The initiative aims to boost consum- er trust and sales. Agrovision, a Sekoya member, will provide select blueberries that meet the LIVIE quality standards.
Survey. After a 7% drop
in July 2023, August saw robust demand for pickup and ship-to-home methods, with delivery seeing a slight slowdown. The number of active online grocery users grew about 5% year-on-year, with ship- to-home orders leading the growth at over 9%. Total e-grocery orders increased 5% in August, mostly due to more users rather than increased order frequency.
Sprouts Opens 400th Store Supermarket chain Sprouts Farmers Market in early September celebrated the opening of its 400th store in the U.S. This 23,000-square-foot store in Haddon
Township, NJ, is the company’s 23rd store opening this year and offers an open-air farmers market feel. Just a week prior, the 399th store was
Instacart launches IPO
launched in Rialto, CA. The company says this growth aligns with its ambition to ex- pand by 10% annually over five years. Currently, Sprouts operates in 23 U.S. states. A few days later, on Sept. 15, Sprouts opened its 401st store in Uptown Tampa. Kroger and Albertsons Announce Divestiture In a bid to gain regulatory approval for its
Shares of Instacart, the San Francisco- based grocery delivery company, surged 12% in their Nasdaq debut on Sept. 19. The initial offering priced the stock at $30 a share, giving the compa- ny a market capitalization of about $10 billion. By the day’s end, the company was valued at just over $11 billion, but shares dropped roughly 11% the follow- ing day. Instacart’s public performance is significant because it’s the first major U.S. venture-backed company to debut since December 2021.
$24.6-billion acquisition of Albertsons, Kroger plans to sell over 400 grocery stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers, ensuring no store closures or frontline job losses from the merger. Kroger will receive about $1.9 billion from the store divestitures. An additional 237 stores might be sold to C&S for full regulatory approval, with
the deal expected to conclude in early 2024. Since its announcement last October, the merger has been criticized by consumer groups and lawmakers over compe- tition and price concerns. C&S, mainly a supplier, currently operates some stores under the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly brands.
Vision Magazine 15
October/November 2023
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