This week I chose to write my blog on the Kroger Case Study by Anusha Manjunatha. This one fascinated me because I shop at Kroger regularly and have friends who work there.
The case study touched on several areas, but the ones that stood out to me the most were the growth of organic products offered in the stores, the variety of products people purchase at Kroger, and the seasonality of consumer shopping. The main focus of my blog is the Simple Truth products and how they help Kroger stay unique in this segment. I believe Kroger is going to continue to grow and be a dominant force in the retail and grocery industry.
More and more people have begun to be more conscious of the food they are purchasing, the ingredients in them, and the food processes. Kroger’s Simple Truth entered the market in 2012 and it was the right place and at the right time. They knew their customers were seeking products like this, and it was the right time to do it. In addition to this, they have now introduced a recycling program for the packaging of their private label brands. According to the News Staff at Focus Daily News, this includes Private Selection, Simple Truth, Kroger Brand, Comforts, and more.
According to The Kroger Co. with PR Newswire, the recycling service is a partnership with TerraCycle. Kroger’s chief merchant and marketing officer Stuart Aitken states that this launch supports its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative. You’ll be able to earn points for each pound of packaging you send back to TerraCycle. I encourage you to learn more about the process at prnewswire.com.
I couldn’t find evidence that goes against this initiative, and I realize it has a lot of positives going toward it and it can be difficult to see the downsides. As an avid recycler, issues that I see are people not properly cleaning their recycling and it causing contamination in the process. As a marketing/advertising-minded person, I see this as bringing challenges with the product label and package design. It will be extra work for the team, but hopefully worth it.
According to Progressive Grocer, Kroger is pushing companies to participate in this initiative, such as Unilever, Hormel Foods, Chobani, and more. Kroger is also wanting to eliminate food waste. I believe the initiatives that Kroger is implementing are really going to push it to the top of the industry and they are going to continue to grow. I’m excited for this program to take place.
References
Co., T. K. (2021, April 22). Kroger Continues to Advance Zero-Waste Vision as First Retailer in The World to Offer the Our Brands Recycling Program as Supported by TerraCycle. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kroger-continues-to-advance-zero-waste-vision-as-first-retailer-in-the-world-to-offer-the-our-brands-recycling-program-as-supported-by-terracycle-301274561.html
Manjunatha, A. (2019, March 14). Kroger Case Study. https://rstudio-pubs-static.s3.amazonaws.com/537553_878c2bed81be45c39ee7c882068b27a0.html
News Staff. (2021, April 22). Kroger First Retailer in The World to Offer the Our Brands Recycling Program. Focus Daily News. https://www.focusdailynews.com/kroger-first-retailer-in-the-world-to-offer-the-our-brands-recycling-program/
Staff, P. G. (2020, September 25). How Kroger Battles Waste During the Pandemic. Progressive Grocer. https://progressivegrocer.com/how-kroger-battles-waste-during-pandemic
Mikayla Flynn 