News
Kroger Maintains Lead in Grocery Store Wars
October 17, 2013
Kroger still dominates Atlanta's grocery store wars. (Hope you chose them in your fantasy grocery store league.) But make no mistake—Walmart has really picked up market share in the past decade. These are the latest grocery store market data in Georgia from The Shelby Report, which tracks the industry players' share of Georgia consumers' $336B buying power. Shelby editor Lorrie Griffith says Kroger has done a tremendous job in holding onto its lead in light of Walmart, hinging much of its marketing on its loyalty discount card. Plus, Kroger is now experimenting with a new store format, called Kroger MarketPlace, with a store coming to Gainesville—it'll even have a jewelry department.
Lorrie also says that discount players such as Aldi and even dollar stores are beginning to bite into Main Street grocer shares in recent years. Dollar stores are especially impacting the big four for things like cleaning products, which are viewed as commodities in large part by consumers. "People who you'd think would never step into one of those stores are shopping there," she says. (Why, just the other day we saw billionaire Thurston C. Howell III buying dish rags.) Lorrie predicts that Kroger will continue to lead Atlanta grocery landscape in the coming years, with both Walmart and Publix holding their own by opening new stores around the state.
