Amazon is definitely looking to expand its grocery delivery business. After experimenting with different pricing models in a few different markets, the company has settled on one scheme for the whole country, and it’s a lower barrier to entry than the previous $299 up-front annual fee. Now customers who want grocery delivery will only pay $14.99 per month… on top of their Prime subscription. [More]
groceries
Report: Kroger Entertaining Idea Of Buying Whole Foods
By 10.7.16
The largest grocery store chain in the country could be getting a bit bigger and a lot more organic, as the rumor mill began churning that Kroger is exploring the idea of buying Whole Foods. [More]
Instacart Replaces Tips With “Service Amounts,” But Are Workers Being Stiffed?
By 9.29.16 — Updated: 10.3.16
Since its launch in 2012 Instacart has offered consumers a way to shop at their local grocery store without actually going to the store. Instead, hired shoppers would be sent a list of products, grab them off shelves, and drive them to a customer’s home or business where they often — but not always — receive a tip. But starting next month, the company is changing the way it handles tips, leaving some contractors and customers up in arms. [More]
Wendy’s Blaming Weak Sales Growth On Cheap Groceries That Keep People At Home
By 8.10.16
When you’re a national fast food chain, you can’t just sit back and coast — you’ve got to constantly increase sales to show you’re growing. Wendy’s is the latest chain to report weaker-than-expected sales growth, results the company is blaming on the fact that groceries are cheap, meaning more people are eating at home. [More]
As Farmers Markets Turn Into Trendy Food Courts, Some Farmers Are Feeling Left Behind
By 6.21.16
A decade ago, as farmers markets were beginning to see a resurgence in a number of U.S. cities, they were a place to spend a morning picking up fresh, seasonal ingredients. Aside from the occasional stand selling baked goods, there wasn’t really anywhere to dine or socialize. [More]
Why Are Millennials Flocking To Aldi Over Whole Foods?
By 6.21.16
Despite opening a new, hipper version of its typical stores, Whole Foods doesn’t appear to be making much headway in turning around its slumping sales. In fact, customers are actually heading to discount retailer Aldi. But why? [More]
Walmart Partners With Uber, Lyft For Online Grocery Delivery
By 6.3.16
Shoppers in more than a dozen cities can already order groceries from Walmart.com then later have someone bring their order out to their waiting car. Soon, these folks won’t even have to leave home. [More]
Amazon Really Wants To Sell You Groceries, Is Expanding “Prime Fresh” To More Cities
By 5.24.16
Big box brick and mortar stores have long since expanded into selling you fresh and packaged groceries to go along with your clothes, books, electronics, and housewares. Amazon, unwilling to be left behind by any 21st century shopping trend, now seems ready to expand their own grocery offerings right on cue. [More]
It Doesn’t Matter How Close The Supermarket Is If It’s Closed When You Get Home
By 5.23.16
We often hear about food deserts, or areas where people have limited access to stores that sell nutritious food. However, there’s more to it than simply looking at a map and checking how close to the nearest grocery store someone lives. There’s also the important question of what that store’s hours are. How easy is it for residents to get there, and how easy is it for residents with irregular schedules, multiple jobs, or limited transportation options? [More]
Amazon Planning To Sell Groceries, Diapers Under Its Private Label
By 5.16.16
From your closet to your pantry and everything in between, Amazon will soon have something to sell under its own private label: after making a recent foray into the fashion world with in-house clothing brands, the e-commerce giant is going to start peddling its own line of food and diapers. [More]
Jet.com Testing Delivery Of Fresh Groceries To Some Markets
By 5.10.16
A year into the existence of Jet.com, we’re still not really sure whether it’s the future of retail or a doomed wacky scheme. Now, in addition to taking on Amazon in the Everything Store sector, Jet is experimenting with the delivery of fresh groceries. That would mean the company is competing with urban grocery delivery leaders like Peapod and Instacart, but with its own warehouses. [More]
FBI Looking For Guy Seen Sprinkling Mystery Liquid On Food At Michigan Whole Foods
By 5.2.16
If you’ve been walking around at Whole Foods in Ann Arbor, MI and sprinkling some kind of liquid on the food, the Federal Bureau of Investigation would like a word. [More]
Walmart Expands Grocery Pickup Option To Eight Additional Cities, Doubles Effort In Others
By 4.13.16
Consumers in eight additional cities will soon be able to order their groceries online and head to their local Walmart to pick them up later. Walmart announced Wednesday that it would expand its free online grocery pickup option — which officially launched in October — to Kansas City; Boise, ID; Richmond and Virginia Beach, VA; Austin; Provo, UT; Daphne, AL; and Charleston, SC, as well as double the number of stores that take part in the service in Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta. To use the service, customers simply place their orders online, pick a time to pick up their items, drive to the store, park in a designated spot, and call a special phone number. An associate then brings the goods straight to their trunk. [Walmart] [More]
Oregon Police Thank “Anonymous Shopping Cart Guy” For Tripping Up Fleeing Suspect
By 2.29.16
Some heroes wear capes and have an arsenal of tools to fight crime hanging from their fancy utility belts. Other heroes, of the everyday sort, have different weapons at their disposal. To wit: one brave, mysterious shopper known only as “anonymous shopping cart guy” sacrificed his groceries to stop a fleeing suspect in Portland, OR. [More]
Google Express Adds Same-Day Deliveries Of Fresh Groceries In L.A., San Francisco
By 2.18.16
Google Express is making good on its plan to offer same-day deliveries of fresh groceries, at least in two California cities: customers in Los Angeles and San Francisco can now order produce, meat, eggs, and other perishable goods and have them delivered by Google within that day. [More]
Meat’s On Sale At Target: Raise Prices By 30 Cents
By 1.14.16
Target CEO Brian Cornell came from the food business, having worked for companies like Safeway, Sam’s Club, and PepsiCo before joining the big-box discounter in 2014. Since then, he’s been working to make groceries at Target better, experimenting with delivery and more fresh and minimally processed food instead of cans and snacks. For example, there’s this nice selection of ground beef that Michael wanted to buy, which is even on sale this week. No… wait a minute, that’s not right. [More]
Target May Hire Outside Company To Help Actually Keep Grocery Items In Stock
By 11.4.15
Target has gradually added more food to their store inventory over the last decade or so, and that’s an area where they want to grow. The problem is that as their food selections have grown, they’ve created a patchwork supply chain to get food items into stores. That’s inefficient, and has left some Target stores with empty shelves. The company’s solution may be to hire someone else to help. [More]
West Coast Grocery Chain Fresh & Easy Closing All Stores
By 10.22.15
After selling off 50 stores earlier this year and pledging to redesign the rest, West Coast grocery chain Fresh & Easy has decided to throw in the towel: after eight years in the supermarket scene, the company says it will close all 97 remaining stores, laying off all its 3,000 employees in the process. [More]
