| |
New groceries give neighbors fresh start
Indianapolis Star,
Indianapolis, IN, June 26, 2008
Marsh is set to open a Hometown Market today in New Palestine, a Hancock County community that has lacked a grocery store since Marsh closed its experimental Arthur's Fresh Market in November 2006.
Both areas have fought hard to secure a grocery store for their residents. And their victories reflect the growth of smaller, specialty neighborhood groceries across the nation, according to supermarket analyst David Livingston, president of DJL Research.
Demand for larger, conventional grocery stores is diminishing as shoppers turn to big-box stores like Wal-Mart or specialty stores like Trader Joe's.
"You've got the low-price shopper, and you've got the specialty store shopper," Livingston said. "The conventional stores are actually getting squeezed out."
SuperTarget's taken bite out of Rainbow
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal,
Minneapolis, MN, June 13, 2008
Since entering the Twin Cities seven years ago, SuperTarget has bitten off more than a tenth of the grocery market, stealing the largest chunk from Rainbow Foods and also elbowing its way into Cub Foods' territory, according to a well-known grocery analyst.
Eden Prairie-based Supervalu Inc. is by far the Twin Cities' grocery leader. Its Cub Foods stores hold 42.2 percent of the $4.5 billion annual Twin Cities grocery market. Its share is off slightly from the 44.5 percent stake it had in 2002, according to estimates provided by David Livingston, owner of Pewaukee, Wis.-based DJL Research. Cub has opened 14 Twin Cities stores in the past six years, bringing its total to 52 stores.
Gas prices pump up the cost of convenience
Pioneer Press,
St. Paul, MN, June 10, 2008
Since word went out last week, customer complaints have been limited to those upset about the $50 minimum order. Many others have been supportive, according to Westerman. Despite longer delivery windows, customers can check the Web site on delivery days for exact arrival times and sign up for e-mail or text messages in case there's a change.
One expert cautions rising gas prices that are being passed on to customers could spell trouble. David Livingston, a Milwaukee grocery consultant, said the only places grocery delivery goes over really well are cities where owning a car is impractical, such as Manhattan, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
Other places, consumers have less incentive to use companies like Simon Delivers. The higher rates and restrictions are "not going to help them anyway. They need as few barriers with the consumer as possible," Livingston said. "Grocery shopping is still not considered such an unpleasant experience that they're going to go more online than to the brick-and-mortar stores."
Publix arrival major change for shoppers
Press-Register,
Birmingham, AL, June 1, 2008
. . . the nation's fourth-largest supermarket chain, based on sales, is wading into this part of the Gulf Coast, with a store going up in Orange Beach, a lease signed in Fairhope, and the company nibbling around sites in Malbis. It opened a 46,000-square-foot store in Gulf Breeze, just east of Pensacola, on May 7.
In Alabama, no Mobile County sites have surfaced. But grocery industry watchers said it would be unusual for Publix to open only in part of a geographic region.
"I would expect they would do five to seven stores" said David Livingston, a supermarket consultant from Pewaukee, Wis.
Changes help Harmons compete
Deseret News,
Salt Lake City, UT, April 29, 2008
David Livingston, a grocery-industry analyst for the past 26 years, says the Harmons business strategy is smart.
"They're trying to differentiate themselves against the other conventional operators," said Livingston, of Pewaukee, Wisc.
High-end and organic markets such as Whole Foods are expanding and taking more customers from what Livingston calls the "plain vanilla" grocery stores such as Albertsons and Smith's Marketplace.
"A lot of stores like Albertsons and Smith's have been upgrading over the years," Livingston said. "They're raising the bar of what plain vanilla is."
On the other end of the spectrum, Wal-Mart stores, with ultra-low prices, are also taking customers from traditional grocery stores.
The grocery market is shaped like an hourglass, Livingston said. "The middle-of-the-road, conventional stores — those are shrinking."
Giant Food hopes less means more
Examiner.com,
Baltimore, MD, April 27, 2008
"I don't think they're taking risk," said David J. Livingston, a grocery store consultant based in Wisconsin. "What's happened with Giant is it's gone from a regional grocery chain to just a small portion of a conglomerate, and it's lost touch with the market and allowed the competition to get the better of (it)."
Reading Tesco Between The Lines
Jim Prevor's Perishable Pundit Blog,
Online, April 18, 2008
This kind of coded language is an insult to everyone in the industry.
— David J. Livingston
DJL RESEARCH, LLC
Pewaukee, WI
Although we don’t think we’ve ever met David, we bet he knew our old friend Gene Battaglia, who worked at Scrivner during David’s stint as a market analyst at the same company, where David studied under Dave Richards, who is well known for his expertise in site analysis and gravity modeling.
He surely knew Frank Gillespie, who was running produce while David was Market Research Manager at Roundy’s. Roundy’s tried to defray some of its fixed costs by operating a consulting business which David ran. When Roundy’s was sold to investment firm Willis Stein & Partners in 2002, David went out on his own providing site analysis, market intelligence, due diligence, geo-demographic mapping and other services.
David’s analysis is right on target. . . .
Tesco's Halted March: Whistling Past The Graveyard?
Marketing Daily,
online, April 14, 2008
RETAIL EXPERTS WERE NOT SURPRISED on Monday to learn that the British invasion of Tesco's Fresh & Easy chain is being halted as the marketer takes what it calls a "three-month break from openings simply to allow the business we've created to settle down."
Rubbish, says David J. Livingston, a supermarket consultant in Pewaukee, Wisc., who says he would not be surprised if Tesco decides to leave the U.S. altogether. "They are not just underperforming," he declares, "they are drastically underperforming. They're not even close. They're not even on the board."
Dominick's sets 'lifestyle' goals
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago, IL, March 31, 2008
But David Livingston, a grocery analyst with supermarket researcher DJL Research in Wisconsin, believes Dominick's continues to struggle.
. . . Livingston said DJL's research has concluded that Dominick's sales per square foot place consistently 25 percent to 30 percent below average for the Chicago grocery market. A Dominick's spokeswoman said that while the company doesn't comment on sales, Livingston's findings don't seem "remotely accurate."
Livingston said he thinks Dominick's will be sold. Indeed, speculation to that effect has surfaced recently.
. . . Plus, Dominick's home turf is a crucial market for Roundy's, Livingston said. "The only place Roundy's can grow is Chicago."
. . . Buying Dominick's would be the best way for Roundy's to expand in Chicago, Livingston said, giving it an established brand.
Grocer fills a giant footprint
JS Online,
Milwaukee, WI, March 29, 2008
"They're going to do real well," said David Livingston, a Pewaukee-based grocery consultant. He estimates Woodman's will take a 3% share of Milwaukee's grocery market for every store it opens. If they get to three stores, Woodman's likely will surpass Sentry as the No. 2 operator in the area, after Pick 'n Save.
|
