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Super Walmart Brings Price Options to Milwaukee Groceries
Today's TMJ4—NBC,
Milwaukee, WI, June 3, 2009
"I think this is really going to benefit the consumer," explained David Livingston, a grocery store expert.
He says stores all over Wisconsin are expanding.
The latest is Wednesday's grand opening of the south side Super Walmart.
"Milwaukee prices have been a high price market because competition left the market," said Livingston.
It's places like Walmart that are competitive in these tough times because they offer lower prices.
"People who shopped at upscale stores are shopping at conventional stores, people who shopped at conventional stores are shopping the low price stores."
Livingston says when Woodman's opened up in Oak Creek, prices at other grocery stores in that area dropped.
After 75 years, lights out for Bruno's Supermarkets
The Birmingham News,
Birmingham, AL, April 26, 2009
Culture aside, private equity groups such as KKR and others that subsequently led Bruno's had a different business model than the family that nurtured the company for decades, said David J.
Livingston, a Wisconsin-based grocery industry analyst.
"Those companies aren't in the business of growing. They're more in the business of milking. Their job is just to squeeze as much money out of the company as they can. They don't have long-term aspirations, and whatever problems they have become the next owner's issue," he said.
At the same time, Bruno's was caught in an hourglass of competition, Livingston said, as Wal-Mart entered Alabama with its Supercenter stores and gobbled up grocery market share on the lower end, while Publix did the same on the higher end.
As a result, companies in the middle, including Mobile-based Delchamps, Winn-Dixie and Bruno's, all suffered, he said.
"It was inevitable because that was their business model," Livingston said of the demise of Bruno's. "They've just been made obsolete. Their stores have become redundant. That's the evolution of the grocery business."
May I help you?
Wall Street Journal,
online, April 22, 2009
Worker bonuses at Publix are tied to corporate and individual performance goals. "These guys are basically on commission: They get paid on what they produce," says David Livingston, a consultant for DJL Research LLC, a supermarket consulting firm in Waukesha, Wis.
Publix Ready to Open Its 1,000th Store Next Month In St. Augustine
The Ledger,
Lakeland, FL, January 21, 2009
Supermarket analyst David Livingston largely attributes Publix's growth to savvy management, but he also said the chain has been helped by a proliferation of Wal-Mart Supercenters that squeezed out weaker competitors. With 714 stores in Florida, Publix leads all grocers with about 40 percent of the state market share, according to the Trade Dimensions research firm.
Wal-Mart Supercenters account for roughly 24 percent of the Florida market, trailed by Jacksonville-based Winn-Dixie at 13 percent.
"Publix has actually taken advantage of when the competition stumbled," said Livingston, referring to Winn-Dixie's bankruptcy woes in 2005 and the slow demise of Albertson's.
Woodman's plans to open store in Menomonee Falls
JS Online,
Milwaukee, WI, January 21, 2009
Supermarket consultant David Livingston said a new Woodman's in Menomonee Falls would hurt surrounding grocers, including Pick 'n Save and Sentry stores.
"I don't think any of these stores would close but they will be significantly impacted," Livingston said. "I think Roundy's will be forced to lower their prices to a more competitive level. Roundy's lowered prices at their stores on Milwaukee's southeast side after Woodman's opened."
Livingston said Sentry stores, which are independently owned, would have a harder time competing with Woodman's. Roundy's is in a much better position to react to Woodman's because it is better capitalized.
Aldi Looks to U.S. for Growth
Wall Street Journal,
Online, January 13, 2009
But the essence of the business is low prices through store-brand foods. It buys in bulk from suppliers and commissions them to make its own store brand of groceries cheaper than rivals. In the U.S. Midwest, for example, its prices are between 15% and 20% less than Wal-Mart and 30% to 40% cheaper than regional chains, said David Livingston, a supermarket analyst with DJL Research in Waukesha, Wis.
Cub Foods to close Verona Road store
Wisconsin State Journal,
Madison, WI, January 12, 2009
David Livingston, a grocery expert who owns DJL Research in Waukesha, said the location has not been kind to grocery stores. A Kohl's food store at the same location failed, as did a SuperSaver Sentry across Verona Road.
But basically, the Cub Foods store was outperformed by rivals such as Woodman's, Copps and Sentry, Livingston said. "(Cub Foods) was not able to deliver a message of quality, service or price," he said.
You scan it, you buy it
Record-Journal,
Meriden, CT, January 11, 2009
Supermarket consultant David J. Livingston said the scanning technology is available to all supermarkets, but has not caught on too much. Livingston is the president of DJL Research, which helps supermarkets make real estate and operating decisions.
"The most successful grocers don't need them," Livingston said. "Those grocers know a friendly cashier does more to bring back a customer."
Livingston calls Stop & Shop "the incredible shrinking company," which has recently closed stores in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Livingston calls the scanners "gimmicks aimed at keeping a vice president in a job."
"It's more about the press release and the movement it creates," Livingston said. "There is nothing compelling about a self-checkout or a hand-held scanner."
Livingston is familiar with grocers in the greater Hartford area, and said only employers who don't trust the employee-customer experience would invest in such technology. Basically, they are saying the customer has a better experience with a machine, he said.
"Do you think Stew Leonard's would replace one of its employees with a machine?" Livingston said. "Their employees are trained in product knowledge and making shopping fun."
First shots fired in a grocery price war
York Dispatch,
York, PA, January 5, 2009
he price battle: Grocery industry analyst David Livingston said price freezes are one of several "advertising gimmicks" that grocers use to drum up business.
Discounters such as Wal-Mart and Aldi are picking up customers because of price, he said. As a result, regional chains must offer more competitive prices "or otherwise they'll be out of business."
Grocery stores are constantly in a price war with competitors, and Wal-Mart is the barometer by which a price is measured, he said.
Stores such as Weis and Giant Food Stores need to keep their prices within 10 to 15 percent of the Wal-Mart price of groceries, Livingston said. Any higher than that, customers start to leave, he said.
Curtin said Weis' financial reports show that store brand, lower-priced items are moving from the shelves at a record pace, he said.
Price to fall? The York Dispatch's most recent comparison of four area grocery stores showed the price of 21 items on a sample list -- including staples such as butter, milk, sugar and flour -- increased 6.5 percent between April and October.
Curtin said the price of fuel has been one component of the price increase, but the increasing cost of commodities such as grain is also at play.
Though the cost of fuel and commodities has dropped recently, food manufacturers have stuck with higher prices because they're locked into long-term contracts for commodities, he said.
He's hopeful that prices will fall, as people are already moving to store brand goods to save money, he said.
But Livingston said manufacturers won't lower the prices until the supply increases and demand falls.
"When customers stop buying these products ... then you'll see the prices come down," he said. "Nobody's going to drop the price just because their cost went down."
People switching to store brands is, however, an incentive to lower prices, he said.
Manufacturers want to preserve the name brand, so they will lower the price if people buy generic instead, he said.
Wal-Mart's Marketside to make debut in E.V.
East Valley Tribune.com,
Phonix, AZ, October 1, 2008
David J. Livingston, an industry consultant, said both companies have deep pockets that could draw out a long competition for market dominance, but both also have challenges.
"I think Wal-Mart has a lot better shot at it than Fresh & Easy - one, because they've got name recognition, and two, they do understand the U.S. market a lot better than Tesco," he said.
But Livingston said Marketside won't be a "slam-dunk" for Wal-Mart, saying that the company has struggled in the past with new store concepts.
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