Kroger rebrands itself in every way (and might add "dynamic pricing")
Snacks / Thursday, November 07, 2019
Feel like the Lannisters in Season 7?... Kroger is a seasoned grocery biz vet, founded 136 years ago in Cincinnati by a German immigrant's son. Now it's facing competition from German discount grocers Aldi and Lidl, which expanded rapidly to the US. Amazon, Walmart, and Target all got in on groceries, too. Doing nothing isn't an option anymore for Kroger, so it's changing everything:
- The project: "Restock Kroger" is what they're calling it (great inventory inside joke). We call it "Operation don't-go-out-of-business."
- The changes: Adding Walgreens stores within its stores, delivering with Instacart, and buying back $1B of shares (to thank investors for their patience). It also acquired a meal kit company.
- The rebrand: "Fresh for Everyone" is the new slogan — that'll be trumpeted by the "Kroji," Kroger's (new) emoji-ish, post-racial cartoon mascots.
"Dynamic pricing" could be up next for groceries... Kroger also recently partnered with Microsoft on a project that includes replacing a shelf's old price labels with digital ones. That got us thinking: "dynamic pricing" could be coming. AKA pricing that can change based on supply/demand (picture Uber's surge pricing). Digital price stickers would let Kroger...
- Raise prices when peanut butter is almost out of stock to ensure whoever gets that last jar really wants it.
- And lower prices when there's too much milk to prevent cartons from going bad.
- These changes could reduce waste, increase revenue, and make Kroger more efficient. And if Kroger's not thinking about it, Amazon almost definitely is.
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