Hey all,
Have you all noticed that some Krogers have been remodeled and carry nearly everything? Well, I have, and they look pretty darn nice. One Kroger that I have visited has a bar Inside. Whole foods has been beat at their own game. Give it a few more years and most Kroger's will resemble a whole foods.
That's a great question. I pulled up this great tidbit from last year, an article on Nov 4th from MarketWatch:
"executives said they are going to invest more to reduce prices, launch additional marketing campaigns and improve the cleanliness and orderliness of stores"
"We need to up our game," co-Chief Executive John Mackey said on a conference call. "Retail is detail is the cliché, and it's a very appropriate one"
Huh. Well that plan sure didn't seem to come to fruition now did it?
@3skn - who keeps the department so clean? Is it a third party or folks employed by Kroger? One of the things that worries me the most is how filthy many of our stores are becoming. STLs have relied on TMs maintaining cleanliness for too long. There is already minimal labor for customer service & side work, forget about cleaning floor drains & fan blade cover guards...
I'm at a competitor now too and it's a sport watching the parade of screwups across the street. Our busy meat counter has conventional and organic choices and the pricing is so much better. It's also cleaner than a hospital in there and they keep it that way. I told the meat manager about the core value claim of selling the finest quality products. He rolled his eyes and said of course we all know that's ridiculous. Oh...and our scales work ALL THE TIME. The technology is amazing here. Another fun fact: every one of our districts and divisions does things exactly the same way. So I could go to any store anywhere in the country and never miss a beat. It's very efficient and predictable, as opposed to the daily chaos and mass confusion I used to experience.
Me, a former ATL and another former ATL from my old WFM store are now indeed working at one of WF Market's Kroger competitors. We are getting set to open a brand new store together. I'm looking forward to pointing out the same hormone, antibiotic, nitrate/nitrate free products at our new store to our customers, many of whom were our former customers at WFM.
WFM is a complete joke nowadays....The talented & knowledgeable TMs have long left, those who are still there are just scared to make changes. There are lots of better employers out there who treat their people with respect....
You'll se
As one analyst put it a couple months ago, there is no Unique Selling Proposition for this company. No fundamental reason why it needs to exist! Next time you're in Texas visit an H-E-B "Central Market"....next time you're in Leesburg, VA (suburban DC) visit the Wegman's there. Same with the large new Publix locations in Asheville, NC and Longboat Key, FL and many others. Very attractive designs, plenty of parking, convenient locations, lots of natural and organic products, great seafood, meat, wines and cheeses and prepared foods, deli subs and sandwiches made to order, coffee bars and cafe areas. Conventional and natural/organic store brands, very strong promotions, consistency. The key differentiators are reasonable/low pricing, service at at the counters, at the front end and on the floor and having the technology and financial stability to improve and grow. Guess who's winning the battle folks? Do you think that Wackey Mackey and his cadre of bozos can possibly win? If you do, I want some of what you're smoking. Meanwhile, yes, thousands of TMs are now at these competitors and they've brought all their foodie customers, families and friends with them.
Publix, Aldi, Kroger, TJs, Lucky's, Fresh Thyme, and local co-ops are steadily eating the remaining sales at WFM. It is a matter of time before the vast majority of WFM shoppers go elsewhere. Why? The main reason is the prices, and even if (not when, they've been talking all this nonsense for well over a year now) prices at WFM drop, people won't be shopping there to observe this anyways.
Second reason, location. In some parts of the US there's only one WFM store for a few miles around, and with the ability of the competitors to now offer the majority of products WFM offers, and at a lower price, people will gravitate to a competitor in their neighborhood, instead of crossing town and battling mall traffic to get to one of our stores.
Another reason WFM shot themselves in the foot (I think the hardest) is that our faithful loyal TMs that were laid off, fired for bogus reasons, or who quit simply because they were exhausted, are now working for the same competitors with the cheaper prices. I saw with my own eyes two previously loyal customers talking to one of our previously loyal seafood ATLs. Where were they talking? At the little meat/seafood counter at our biggest competitor in town! Where the ATL now works and where the customers now shop.
It doesn't take a business analyst to predict what's happening with this company, and what's going to happen if the loonies at the top continue with their truly awful decisions that have DESTROYED a company that used to be great. I continue to look for another job that will pay similar, and it's hard. It's just so hard to go in there and smile at people and tell customers 'Oh yeah XX no longer works here... yes I know you love him, he's working at XX now, how can I help you today?'
Have noticed it. Haven't been back to my wf to see if they've done anything to one-up.