State of the Industry: Some Supermarkets Succeed by Wide Margins

Overall, the mature food store industry is plagued by saturated markets and limited expansion opportunities. In 1991, only the industry's leaders continued to demonstrate increasing margins. The top players are upping their margins largely by increasing their focus on improved margin performanc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chain store age (1995) 1992-08, Vol.68 (8), p.16A
Main Author: Skrovan, Sandra J
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Bakeries
Competition
Drug stores
Electronic data interchange
Food
Food products
House brands
Industrywide conditions
Prices
Pricing policies
Product development
Product mixes
Productivity
Profit margins
Profitability
Ratings & rankings
Retail stores
Supermarkets
Wholesale clubs
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Overall, the mature food store industry is plagued by saturated markets and limited expansion opportunities. In 1991, only the industry's leaders continued to demonstrate increasing margins. The top players are upping their margins largely by increasing their focus on improved margin performance and operating efficiencies. Successful supermarket chains have uncovered an array of opportunities for attaining margin improvements. For example, some chains are focusing their mechandise assortment on categories and departments offering higher gross margins. Others are improving their margin performance by developing strong private label programs. In recent years, some supermarkets have taken advantage of aggressive buying opportunities, including forward buying and diverting, resulting in increased gross margins and improved profitability. In general, the outlook for food store sales remains modest. However, certain segments of the industry will prosper. For example, those companies investing in advanced systems will do well.
ISSN:1087-0601
2329-1494