Big Box Producers Losing Ground - Swept by Underwhelming Shopper Satisfaction

Big grocery store shelf names like Kraft Heinz Company, Kellogg Company, and Mondelez International Incorporated had best keep a close eye over their shoulder as newer trends come sweeping by to give their competition the advantage. These are just a few of the big brand names that most of us recall browsing through in search of the next hash mark off of our grocery list. But a new trend is giving those brands a run for their money, filling their dwindling void of shelf space, and saying goodbye to that grocery list almost entirely.

(Before)

Packaged goods have seen their hay day come and pass. Once hailed as the low cost - long shelf life mealtime mainstay, packaged goods have now experienced their fall from grace with sales slipping nearly 2.5% in just the first quarter of 2017. Shoppers’ tastes have refined as they are now more intently searching for the healthy, local, and fresh alternatives. A flame that ignited almost a decade ago, with select grocery stores offering fresh ‘home-made’ meal alternatives for hungry shoppers on the move, has now exploded into the newest grocery status quo. Big name stores are now seeking locally produced, fresh, and organic ingredients to replace the big boxes with the big taste of consumer demand.

(After)

As many readers may have noticed already our traditional grocery store is losing its classical image - stripping itself of bulky metal shelving and replacing the eyesores with sleek stainless serving displays and cookware. Adopting a more welcoming environment for customers has proven successful as sales of fresh produce soar. Hungry shoppers who used to turn to a bag of sodium dense snacks now may opt for the fresh deli indulgence at a comparable cost with the added savings of their health conciseness. Big box names are scrambling for an identity overhaul as their expiration date draws near. In order to stay afloat, packaged product producers need to re-evaluate their consumers, turn back their roots, and employ a fresh product alternative to keep up with the small name trendsetters. In the meantime we will see stores like CVS, HEB, ShopRite, Kroger, and many others continue to re-model and re-build – from the ground up.

Name: Joseph Webb

Class: MKTG 3343

Article: Big-Name Food Brands Lose Battle of the Grocery Aisle

Link to WSJ Article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-name-food-brands-lose-battle-of-the-grocery-aisle-1493596823