a visit to the supermarket

Convenience is king in prepared foods

Posted on August 3, 2024

Chloe Riley is the Executive Editor of Supermarket News, which delivers the ultimate in competitive business intelligence, news and information for executives in the food retail and grocery industry. A graduate of the School of Journalism at Columbia College Chicago, Chloe previously served as a Digital Strategist at SEO firm Profound Strategy, Associate Editor at B2B hospitality mag HOTELS Magazine, as well as CEO of her own digital strategy company, Chlowe. Convenience, price, and variety are the biggest factors driving consumers to prepare foods purchases within grocery, according to a recent report from Technomic. And convenience seems to matter almost…

5 things: The grocery store that never was

Posted on July 27, 2024

The phantom grocery store: Last month, a video was posted on TikTok — a walkthrough of a new Erewhon store in Brooklyn. Only…the whole thing was a fake. Erewhon, the trendy LA organic grocer, has no such New York store. Instead, most of the video was of a City Fresh Market. A manager at City Fresh wasn’t having it. “I didn’t take it as a joke,” she told the New York Times. She also attempted to have the TikTok post removed from the platform, but so far has been unsuccessful. Since it was posted the video, which was also shared…

NY now allows the dispensing of birth control without a prescription

Posted on July 27, 2024

New York has joined the list of states that allow pharmacists to dispense hormonal contraceptives without a prescription from a doctor. States began granting contraception-prescribing authority to pharmacists in 2016, when both California and Oregon passed laws allowing the practice. The measures have gained steam since and have since expanded to 28 states and the District of Columbia, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, which conducts research on reproductive health policy. The language of the laws varies by state, however, with some states specifying which contraceptives are covered and others referring more broadly to “self-administered hormonal contraceptives.” Some states…

Private label brands achieved record success in 2023

Posted on July 23, 2024

Sales of store brands increased $10.1 billion to a record $236.3 billion last year compared to 2022, according to PLMA’s just-released 2024 Private Label Report. That represents a 4.7% rise in dollar sales in all outlets from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023, versus the same period the previous year, according to the report. Store brands bested national brands, which grew 3.4% in dollar sales. Compared to 2019, annual store brand dollar sales in 2023 increased by $60.2 billion, a 34% gain. Store brand dollar share rose 1.2 points to a record 18.9%. During the four-year period, store brand unit…

Kroger, Albertsons file pointed responses to FTC

Posted on June 24, 2024

Kroger and Albertsons both filed sharply worded comments this week asserting that the Federal Trade Commission defined the competitive retail and labor markets much too narrowly in its efforts to block the retailers’ planned mergers. Unlike their statements to the media after the FTC announced in February that it would sue to block the proposed, $24.6 billion merger, the retailers took a much more combative stance and provided detailed objections to the FTC’s specific allegations in their latest filings. Related: Hearing to decide next step in Kroger, Albertsons merger set for August “The Commission’s claims are premised entirely on the…