Sears goes shopping for groceries.



Target, Walgreens, CVS, 7 Eleven, Rite Aid and Sears are all shopping for grocery products and new consumers. Each is hopping too increase brand loyalty, build customer frequency while building top line sales and bottom line profits. Within the retail food sector however the only sector showing solid positive growth is the grocerant niche with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food.

Will Sears capitulate and follow the two low price leaders Walmart and Royal Ahold and get caught playing catch-up and missing the wave. That would be a very dumb move given the dollar stores sector has gutted any profitability from legacy grocers “center of the store”, with no signs of letting up on that strategy.

Given the mall and urban opportunity Sears could find room in the profitable grocerant niche with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food. Walgreens early stumble in this sector created an opening. The stumble was driven in large part of legacy category managers protecting turf, not focused on consumer demand or demand growth. Success does leave clues and lets hope Sears pick a few up.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant