Target expands grocery pickup offerings

Target expands grocery pickup offerings | Kroger's IT named among Best Places to Work | Smart & Final adopts new AI analytics platform

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June 25, 2020

Food Marketplace Beat

Target expands grocery pickup offerings

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Target will add 750 more items, including meat, vegetables and fruit, to its same-day curbside pickup and drive-up services, expanding a successful pilot program started last year in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. The company says the new service will be available at 400 stores by the end of June and at more than 1,500 stores by the start of the holiday season.

Full Story: Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.) (tiered subscription model) (6/25), CNBC (6/25)

Kroger's IT named among Best Places to Work

(Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Kroger, which recorded record-breaking digital performance in the first quarter, has been named in Computerworld's 2020 Top 100 Best Places to Work in IT. The grocer, the only food retailer on the list, was ranked 51st and cited for having an innovative workplace culture that Chief Technology Officer Yael Cosset says is "fundamentally changing the way we serve customers."

Full Story: Progressive Grocer (6/24)

Smart & Final adopts new AI analytics platform

(Nandaro/Wikimedia Commons)

Smart & Final is joining with Hypersonix on a new artificial intelligence analytics platform, following a successful two-month pilot program. The cloud-based Unified Data Analytics Platform gleans key data from different applications and vendors and can provide clear pictures of customer behavior and product assortments, helping the grocer make better data-driven decisions.

Full Story: Progressive Grocer (6/24)

Thrive Market rolls out paleo, plant-based frozen meals
Grocery Dive (6/24)

Chairman of Ahold Delhaize board retiring Dec. 31
Winsight Grocery Business (6/24)

Ingles to pay out $5M in employee bonuses
Winsight Grocery Business (6/24)

Why you need prescriptive analytics today
Given the many challenges grocers currently face – from excessive shrink with perishable inventory to supply chain disruptions and increased competition – the industry is rapidly turning to analytics. Read this whitepaper to learn how grocers are using prescriptive analytics to help leverage data to identify ways to protect their margins and profits.

Trend-Spotter

Survey: Pandemic tests brand loyalty

Shoppers faced with shortages or out-of-stock items are not choosing to go without, but are instead switching to different brands or sometimes even new categories or channels, a survey from Profitero revealed. Some of the surprising ways customers are reallocating their dollars shows "[i]t's time for brands to challenge all prior assumptions to meet the new shopping behaviors because the genie isn't going back in the bottle," said Profitero President Sarah Hofstetter.

Full Story: Winsight Grocery Business (6/24)

Organic produce sales continued to grow in May

Organic produce sales grew 16.3% in May, continuing a trend of double-digit year-over-year growth, according to a report from Organic Produce Network and Category Partners. Nine of the 15 biggest-selling varieties by volume were vegetables.

Full Story: AndNowUKnow (6/23)

Tech Solutions

Data-driven strategy key to post-pandemic success

The new shopping behaviors shaped by the pandemic mean retailers need to use better data models to respond to rapidly changing customer demand, writes Jose Gomes, president of North America for dunnhumby. He outlines several steps that can help grocers prepare for an uncertain future by building and maintaining agile data and forecast models.

Full Story: Progressive Grocer (6/24)

Sponsored content from New Hope

How COVID-19 has changed online grocery shopping for good.

Online shopping has been taken up for clothing, household items and even furniture but we've seen little growth in the online grocery shopping category. Enter COVID-19. With the virus threat high and many states and municipalities putting a stay-at-home order in place, online grocery shopping suddenly got a lot more appealing – with an estimated 40% growth in 2020, reaching $38 billion in sales and equating to 3.5% of the total market. Click here for the full story.

SmartBrief Originals

How plant-based food makers have adjusted to the pandemic
SmartBrief/Food & Travel (6/24)

Why food brands should continue to work with influencers during the pandemic
SmartBrief/Food & Travel (6/22)

Driving restaurant traffic in a post-COVID world
SmartBrief/Food & Travel (6/17)

Corporate Social Responsibility

Hy-Vee donates $800K in supplies to help Twin Cities
Supermarket News (free registration) (6/24)

Grocery Outlet "Independence From Hunger" food drive gets started
Progressive Grocer (6/24)

Health and Well-being

FMI helps outline pharmacy best practices amid pandemic

(Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

FMI has joined with the National Grocers Association and other groups in crafting a joint statement that outlines best practices for pharmacies to properly document the signature-free pickup or delivery of prescriptions during the pandemic. "FMI appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with PCMA and the pharmacy trade associations to streamline transactions and facilitate a more consistent touchless customer experience," said FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin.

Full Story: Supermarket News (free registration) (6/24)

FMI Spotlight

COVID-19 has made me lose the joy of cooking

Cooking brings joy to FMI's Sue Wilkinson! At least that was the case until the pandemic struck. One would think that the absence of an hour-long commute at the end of the workday would make her even more excited to cook dinner. Nope. At the end of the day, she is exhausted with no appetite for food or the time it takes to cook dinner. Cooking on a weeknight looks different than cooking on a weekend or for a special occasion, and perhaps because every day seems like the same day these days, Wilkinson has lost her mojo. Her circumstance is not entirely unusual. According to the 2020 US Grocery Shopper Trends report, in mid-May, 23% of shoppers said their priority when cooking is to spend as little time as possible doing it (up from 16% in late March). And in mid-May, 33% said they sought "something interesting" to eat when they cook at home, indicating a fatigue with the cooking process. Read more.

Grocery's e-commerce evolution during COVID-19

The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce demand, pressuring capabilities and providing invaluable lessons for the future. FMI's Steve Markenson is not usually one to make dramatic statements about industry developments, but he has mostly put that aside during this pandemic, when everything seems to be unprecedented. But here is a sweeping statement he is comfortable making: Online grocery shopping is undergoing its biggest test. Read more.