Ahold Delhaize opens factory in Connecticut

Ahold Delhaize, the Netherlands-based global grocery giant with more than 7,000 stores worldwide, has just taken an important step in its efforts to ensure that 85% of its grocery supply chain East Coast retail distribution will self-distribute by the end of 2022. The United States family of supply chain companies, ADUSA Supply Chain, announced Thursday, September 23, the opening of its 1 million square feet in Manchester, Connecticut.

Read more: Grocery Roundup: Ahold Delhaize takes control of the US supply chain

“The opening of the Manchester plant is an important step in the transformation of the supply chain serving Ahold Delhaize USA’s local brands,” said Chris Lewis, president of ADUSA Supply Chain, in a statement. . “With the addition of Manchester, we added over 2 million square feet of distribution capacity to our network in less than two months. “

Lewis added that the facility is “well equipped with technological solutions that will increase efficiency,” which allows for faster deliveries.

The facility will process an average of approximately 1.7 million cases of long-life groceries each week, supplying more than 450 Stop & Shop stores and e-commerce centers. This is the first establishment opened under the ADUSA Supply Chain brand.

During a call with analysts in August, Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller said the self-distribution move serves the company’s U.S. operations well amid widespread supply chain disruption. supply.

“On the American side, we are lucky to have a lot of [the] self-managed supply chain, ”he said. “It’s absolutely strategically in the right direction. And the more we control ourselves, the more we can control our destiny and we are less dependent on others.

Giant encourages online orders with reduced fees

In related news, in an effort to attract shoppers to its online grocery channels, Ahold Delhaize-owned and Maryland-based grocery chain Giant, which operates more than 160 stores in the Delaware area -Maryland-Virginia, announced Wednesday, September 22. that it now offers free deliveries three days a week and discounted deliveries two days. In addition, the chain lowers its minimum order for delivery and eliminates the minimum for pickup.

PYMNTS data from the What Consumers Expect From Their Grocery Shopping Experiences, a collaboration with ACI Worldwide, reveals that while 94% of consumers still shop in-store, only 34% shop online and only 23% of consumers buy groceries online for delivery. .

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It seems like a fairly small fraction, but it is a dramatic increase from the pre-pandemic period. A 2019 NPD study found that 16% of the 20% of consumers who shopped online, or 3% of all consumers, said they ordered for delivery.

Walmart “Built for the Best” to Attract Impact and Health Conscious Shoppers

Walmart, the largest grocer in the United States, announced Tuesday, September 21, the launch of a new program, “Built for Better”, designed to reach consumers whose purchasing decisions are influenced by the perceived environmental and nutritional impact. brands.

The program is divided into two categories: products with beneficial effects on health and those which are respectful of the environment. For foods, products will display with the “Built for Better, For You” icon when they meet certain nutritional standards. Products in all categories will appear with the words “Built for the best – for the planet” when they meet certain environmental standards.

“We’re just getting started. We know that ‘living better’ goes beyond saving money, living a healthy lifestyle and being sustainable, ”wrote Jane Ewing, senior vice president of sustainability at Walmart. “With Built for Better, we have created a framework that can evolve over time. As the needs of our communities and customers continue to evolve, we will change alongside them.

The sanitary qualities of food have a considerable impact on the purchasing decisions of consumers. For example, a study by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) earlier this year found that more than half of all millennials had been on a specific diet, such as healthy eating or intermittent fasting, at some point in their life. the year before, just like 38% of Generation X consumers.

Additionally, eco-centric initiatives such as this one can be critical to the ability of retailers to retain sustainability-conscious shoppers. A GreenPrint study published in March found that 64% of U.S. consumers would be willing to spend more on sustainable products, and 78% would be more likely to buy a product if it was clearly labeled for the environment. Additionally, 77% of all US consumers said they were “concerned about the environmental impact of the products they buy.”

Schnucks Woos Back Shoppers Online with Local Products

Schnucks, a Midwestern grocery chain with 111 branches, focuses on local produce. In partnership with the mobile marketing application and the Foodshed.io logistics platform, which helps businesses discover local food producers, the grocer now offers the largest number of fresh produce offers since its creation.

“Buying from local farms helps us support our local neighbors while providing a better quality product to our customers,” Schnucks Produce and Floral vice president Mike Tipton said in a statement. “By reducing the time it takes from the farm to our stores, we are able to get the freshest produce. “

With the increase of online grocery shopping, fresh produce can be a huge differentiator for grocers whose strength is brick and mortar. The November 2020 omnichannel grocery report from PYMNTS, a collaboration of ACI Worldwide, found that the share of consumers buying fresh fruit and vegetables online was about half that of those buying packaged food online – 17% against 32%. In other words, the vast majority (83%) of shoppers prefer to buy their fresh fruits and vegetables in stores.

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