Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

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storewanderer
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Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by storewanderer »

https://www.businessinsider.com/kroger- ... nt-2019-10

Marketing isn't the reason why Kroger's results are not up to what they would like. It is because the management of Kroger has taken the wrong path the past few years. Taking control away from the divisions has hurt their operations. Ideas that have come out of Ohio are not good (the divisions did better figuring out how to run fresh departments on their own). They have cut service in the stores, what happened to "fast checkout" and the 2 in line rule, it has gone by the wayside. Some stores do not even have a sufficient number of checkout stands to handle the number of customers as too many checkout stands have been removed to make way for more self checkouts, a number of which are always broken.

They have nearly ruined the Fred Meyer format by cutting non food mix in some stores, dumbing down what was a higher quality fresh offering to a standard ho hum Kroger offering but keeping it at high prices (better quality and prices on fresh items at Safeway/Albertsons in ID/OR/WA), and the very poorly executed "Dip" clothing line.

I have no clue what the magnitude of this "big announcement" will be. But I will be surprised if it makes things any better. The best thing they could do is decentralize fresh department merchandising and operations decisions. Ohio needs to stick to private label products, back office systems, and center store merchandising because those are the things they do well.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by rwsandiego »

I read somewhere (Retail Dive, maybe?) that Kroger is updating its logo.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by storewanderer »

Perhaps it will look like the logo for RVler foods.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by pseudo3d »

rwsandiego wrote: October 31st, 2019, 11:38 pm I read somewhere (Retail Dive, maybe?) that Kroger is updating its logo.
Nothing can be an improvement on the Raymond Loewy-designed Kroger logo, unless it was the slightest change made to it, like the new font in the early 1960s. No way can some third-rate marketing department/focus group can come up with an improvement.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by jamcool »

Supposedly they are reducing the various private label brands-and they have many. Walmart only has 3 private brands for food, Target only 4 for everything
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by storewanderer »

pseudo3d wrote: November 1st, 2019, 6:06 am
rwsandiego wrote: October 31st, 2019, 11:38 pm I read somewhere (Retail Dive, maybe?) that Kroger is updating its logo.
Nothing can be an improvement on the Raymond Loewy-designed Kroger logo, unless it was the slightest change made to it, like the new font in the early 1960s. No way can some third-rate marketing department/focus group can come up with an improvement.
I don't see anything wrong with the logo. It is a timeless logo. It is distinctive, stands out, and has a classy polished look to it. The blue color stands out well on private label packaging (since many packages use colors other than blue) and does not get lost in the packaging as many red or white private label logos at competitors do.

Some of the Kroger divisions have rather cheesy looking logos but again there is nothing wrong with the logos. No need to change them. Signs cost too much money. It makes no difference to the customer.

It is funny Smiths is the only chain that has had its logo re-done early under Kroger.

And logo changes are just a waste of time, money, and resources. When Safeway did its logo change there was a phase in and the new logo was used to designate which stores had been remodeled into a Lifestyle store and which hadn't. I didn't think they needed to change their logo too but there was a legitimate designation of store quality on the stores where the new logo was placed (you knew it would be a Lifestyle store). I was in some store in the South a few years ago, I think it was called Lowe's Foods in NC or somewhere, and I saw no fewer than 3 different logos in use. One on the store, one on signs/ads, and a couple different logos on labels or private label products. I went to a few locations of this chain and the stores were not very busy, prices were on the higher end of the scale, and fresh departments were marginal at best. They can try for whatever logo changes they want but if the store is sub par, the logo means nothing.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: October 31st, 2019, 10:09 pm
They have nearly ruined the Fred Meyer format by cutting non food mix in some stores, dumbing down what was a higher quality fresh offering to a standard ho hum Kroger offering but keeping it at high prices (better quality and prices on fresh items at Safeway/Albertsons in ID/OR/WA), and the very poorly executed "Dip" clothing line.
Right now, I think the only real strength Fred Meyer has is their grocery department. Their prices and selection at the Longview store is far superior to the Safeway across the street. But as far as the rest of the store, nearly every department downsized during the remodel.

Kroger does have a very good private label program in grocery, but they have lost their way a bit when it comes to the GM side of things at Fred Meyer.

Although Dip did not completely replace brand names, it did cause the apparel departments to pretty much eliminate men's big & tall sizes. Fred Meyer often has nothing above a 2XL now in most brands. And Electronics has downsized, while the recently remodeled Walmart down the road has expanded this slightly. And they have moved toward forced self-checkout on the GM side.

If Kroger wants to continue with Fred Meyer (and their Marketplace format where the Fred Meyer brand is not present) they need to take a closer look at their competitors such as Walmart, Meijer, etc. And also take advantage of the fact that Kmart, Shopko, and others have closed stores and try to catch some of that market share on the GM side. The discount store format in many areas of the country now consists mainly of Walmart (which still has some stores without grocery departments) and Target. Fred Meyer on the GM side is all over the place as far as price and selection are concerned, and is becoming more inconsistent as far as overall store experience from one location to the next.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by pseudo3d »

jamcool wrote: November 1st, 2019, 7:55 am Supposedly they are reducing the various private label brands-and they have many. Walmart only has 3 private brands for food, Target only 4 for everything
Target's Good & Plenty or whatever their name is threw out the baby with the bathwater as far as that was concerned...I liked Archer Farms.

Kroger doesn't have that many, and I thought they prided themselves on the "good, better, best" line of marketing (P$$T/CTO, Kroger, Private Selection), plus Simple Truth, which I thought was successful. It's not like they have 20+ brand names grocery stores prior to the late 1990s did.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by rwsandiego »

An article from Business Insider quotes an internal leaked memo that states Kroger is #17 in the Fortune 500 but isn't in the top 100 for brand value. What they seem to be missing is outside of the territory where Kroger operates Kroger-brand stores no one cares about Kroger as a brand. Shoppers care about the store brand that operates where they live. However, as a company they keep trying to homogenize their stores. Guess they didn't learn from Macy's, Albertson's, and Safeway's mistakes when they tried to change acquired banners into generic stores.
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Re: Kroger "big announcement coming" on branding

Post by mjhale »

rwsandiego wrote: November 1st, 2019, 7:28 pm An article from Business Insider quotes an internal leaked memo that states Kroger is #17 in the Fortune 500 but isn't in the top 100 for brand value. What they seem to be missing is outside of the territory where Kroger operates Kroger-brand stores no one cares about Kroger as a brand. Shoppers care about the store brand that operates where they live. However, as a company they keep trying to homogenize their stores. Guess they didn't learn from Macy's, Albertson's, and Safeway's mistakes when they tried to change acquired banners into generic stores.
Kroger might want to look at what Ahold did to Giant-MD as a case study on destroying a beloved local grocery store and brand by turning it into a clone of an out of town grocery store and brand that nobody cared about. The downfall of Giant-MD was the beginning of a lot more grocery competition entering and establishing themselves in the DC area. While Giant-MD still soldiers on it has never recovered the market share and reputation it had during its heyday of local ownership. Sounds a lot like what people are writing about here happening in markets Kroger operates a local nameplates.
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