Sn Off the Shelf

Mike Cianciarulo recounts comeback of Earth Fare

Better-for-you grocery chain goes from relaunch to expansion just months after bankruptcy.

Raley’s O-N-E Market the next step in retailer’s transformation

Concept reflects company’s passion for healthy food and exceptional customer service, says Chief Customer Experience Officer Deirdre Zimmerman.

AWG’s David Smith sizes up grocery retail ‘power buyers’

Associated Wholesaler Grocers CEO says pandemic magnified competitive imbalance.

The real threat of Amazon Fresh lies in delivery, says Brick Meets Click’s Bill Bishop

With the news last week that Amazon plans to expand its new Fresh store concept to 28 more locations, the retail giant gave notice that it intends to be a serious player in the omnichannel grocery space. The Seattle-based retail giant is “quietly building a national grocery chain,” Bloomberg reported last week, with Amazon Fresh stores in the works “from Philadelphia to the Sacramento suburbs.” Retail industry expert Bill Bishop of Brick Meets Click was not surprised, and in fact has been expecting this move.

Following changing patterns in in-store foot traffic during the pandemic

The grocery retail industry, like all businesses, has experienced a sea change during the pandemic — although unlike many other retail segments, supermarkets were never forced to close over the last 11 months. As essential businesses, they continued to provide food and necessities to American shoppers, though the patterns of how consumers did their grocery shopping changed dramatically and probably for the long term. Greg Sterling, vice president of market insights for retail analytics firm Uberall, recently joined us for an SN Off the Shelf podcast in which he outlined the trends grocery retail has been experiencing during COVID, and a look forward to what the industry can expect as vaccines continue to roll out in the country and consumers’ shopping behavior continues to evolve.