The Friday Checkout: Can Target’s grocery business help revive its luster?
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
The Friday Checkout: Can Target’s grocery business help revive its luster?
Massachusetts bill would ban grocers from using customers’ biometric data to adjust prices. Publix shares spotlight for 95th birthday celebration with store associate who shares the same birth year as the grocer. A British supermarket chain has a new strategy to combat theft: pay people to report shoplifters. Specialty chain Dorothy Lane Market opened its first store in the greater Cincinnati area on Monday, according to local news reports. The bill seeks to block what it calls “surveillance pricing” and installs guardrails on how grocers can use customer biometricData. The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come. Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion and @GMA for updates on the latest stories you saw on CNN iReport and CNN iReporters on Twitter and @cnnireport for stories you want to see on CNNReport and @CNNMoney.
The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
Speaking Wednesday during his first earnings call as Target’s choice to replace outgoing CEO Brian Cornell, COO Michael Fiddelke said the company’s grocery business will play an important role in his strategy to revitalize the struggling retailer, which he said needs to move “much faster” to strengthen its operations.
Fiddelke said he thinks Target can leverage its expertise in style and design through categories including grocery as it strives to restore its luster. “I’d argue that it’s true in a category like food and beverage, where our ability to bring newness with our national brand partners … is the path forward for how we win across every single category,” he said.
But while Target’s food and beverage sales rose during its latest quarter even as core categories like clothing and household essentials declined, investors weren’t impressed. Target’s stock price fell more than 6% on Wednesday and dipped even further the following day, highlighting the challenges facing the company, which has seen its shares fall by nearly 30% this year.
Of course, a key obstacle — Walmart — is standing in Fiddelke’s way as he attempts to lead Target out of the doldrums. Walmart, already the biggest grocer in the U.S., announced this week that its grocery business recorded mid-single-digit sales growth during its most recent quarter, a pace that was ahead of the company’s general merchandise sales and followed the robust grocery growth Walmart saw in its last fiscal year.
Target is a storied retailer that has seen tough stretches before. As the company pushes forward this time, will its grocery business be strong enough to help it regain its strength?
In case you missed it
State bill would ban grocers from using customers’ biometric data to adjust prices
Yup, you read that right. Proposed legislation in Massachusetts would ban grocers from making price adjustments and sending targeted ads based on shoppers’ biometric data, according to local news outlet WWLP. The bill seeks to block what it calls “surveillance pricing” and installs guardrails on how grocers can use customer biometric data, such as their fingerprint, voiceprint, gait or “other unique biological patterns.”
The bill secured initial approval from the House on Monday, Telegram & Gazette reported.
Specialty chain Dorothy Lane Market enters Kroger territory
Kroger has a new competitor on its home turf. Dorothy Lane Market opened its first store in the greater Cincinnati area on Monday, according to local news reports. Located in Mason, Ohio, the store marks the fourth and largest Dorothy Lane Market, the grocer noted on its website. Customers can find an Italian-style coffee bar and boutique floral and plant market alongside gourmet grocery offerings.
Snitches get… discounts?
Iceland, a British supermarket chain, has a new strategy to combat theft: pay people to report shoplifters, the BBC reported earlier this week. The reward? A 1 pound credit — equivalent to $1.34 — on their Iceland Bonus Card, according to the news outlet.
Iceland told the BBC that the shoplifters don’t have to be caught for customers to receive the reward. It’s a novel idea, but as one Grocery Dive staffer noted: That is not a lot of money to be a snitch.
Impulse find
Publix shares spotlight for 95th birthday celebration
Publix is in its party-planning era. The Florida-based grocery chain recently shared that it threw a joint 95th birthday bash with Ralph DeSimone, a store associate who shares the same birth year as the grocer.
DeSimone, who is a front service clerk at a Publix store in Cumming, Georgia, joined the grocer in 2016 after a long career in the technology field and experience chartering tours out of Jacksonville, Florida, the grocer noted.
But the partying didn’t stop there. Last month, Publix also threw a 95th birthday party for longtime shopper Martha Kennon. Kennon has been shopping at Publix for more than 50 years and her current store in Melbourne, Florida, hosted her birthday celebration, which included family and friends, decorations and carrot cake from the Publix Bakery — her favorite.
Kennon is such a fan that even her grandchildren are Publix loyalists. Her five grandchildren have all worked in Publix stores, with one, Joshua, currently working as a store manager.
“I did not fully realize that I shared my birth year with Publix, but I consider it an honor,” Kennon said in a statement. “I feel we are both doing quite well for 95!”
Front Service Clerk Ralph DeSimone was born in 1930, which is the same year Publix was founded. Courtesy of Publix