As we approach the one-year mark of the COVID-19 lockdown and the resulting changes to consumer behaviors, retailers are reevaluating their business models and priorities. This week, supermarkets are expanding, adopting new technologies and contemplating major changes.
For many retailers, this taking stock is occurring both figuratively and literally: Solutions provider Symphony RetailAI has just announced the results of a survey in which 95 percent of retailers surveyed named inventory optimization as their No. 1 priority in the coming year, according to The Shelby Report. This Category Planning & Assortment Optimization Executive Survey, created in collaboration with insights firm Incisiv, found that grocers would like to reset their merchandise twice as often as they currently are doing.
“Grocers with greater analytics maturity and deeper integration lead the industry in terms of performance – these players see twice the basket size of less mature grocers and 2.6 times share of wallet,” Gaurav Pant, chief insights officer for Incisiv, told The Shelby Report.
The pandemic has called attention to the variable nature of consumers’ needs. The toilet paper and hand sanitizer shortages, for example, indicated just how much buying behavior can be influenced by changing local, national and global circumstances. Using up-to-the-minute data to anticipate needs can help alleviate similar inventory crises in the future.
Union Calls For Greater Protection For Food Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) has called for mandatory hazard pay and vaccine rollout prioritization for food workers, reports Supermarket News. The union, which represents 1.3 million workers in grocery, meatpacking and other essential businesses, notes the death of 400 of its frontline workers, the infection or exposure of 77,600 members, the death of 137 members employed by the grocery industry, and the death of 132 members employed by the meatpacking industry as indisputable evidence of insufficient protections.
“COVID-19 is still a national emergency, and the threat of this pandemic for essential workers is worse now than ever before,” Marc Perrone, UFCW International president, told Supermarket News. “Companies like Kroger, Walmart and others still refuse to publicly disclose the full impact of COVID-19, including how many frontline workers have been infected and died, even as the speed of virus infections has increased in the last two months.” Perone called on the industry to provide hazard pay to all workers, pointing out the illogic of discontinuing hazard pay when death counts continue to stack up. Additionally, the failure to make the vaccine available to all these frontline workers is costing lives.
Price Chopper/Market 32 And Tops Markets’ Upcoming Merger
Price Chopper/Market 32, a New York-based grocery chain with locations across the northeast, is merging with Tops Markets, another independent supermarket chain with locations throughout the region, according to Winsight Grocery Business. Together, the stores will operate almost 300 stores. (This implies that there may be some store closures, as each chain currently operates over 160 locations.)
Scott Grimmett, CEO and president of Price Chopper/Market32, will remain CEO of the merged stores. He told Winsight that the merger “leverages increased value for our customers; advances shared opportunities for innovation; fortifies the depth of our workforce, community and trade partnerships; and ultimately accelerates our capacity to deliver a distinctively modern and convenient shopping experience.”
Frank Curci, CEO and chairman of Tops Markets, who will consult on the transition and assume a role as a board member, added, “we have long believed that this merger makes sense, both strategically and based on the similar ways in which we each put customers first, go to market and treat our people.”
The merger will close later this year. Price Chopper’s headquarters in Schenectady, New York will become the merged company’s headquarters, while a Tops team will continue to operate out of the chain’s current headquarters in Williamsville, New York.
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