Retail — Latest Stories

USDA Partners with Amazon to Promote Small Business Contracting

Is the world’s largest e-commerce platform connecting small businesses with the government or “small-washing” a new monopoly tollbooth?

Policy, RetailClaire KellowayJuly 26, 2024Amazon, USDA, Procurement, Secondary Feature

Takeaways from the National Rural Grocery Summit, USDA Proposes Another Packers and Stockyards Rule

Rural grocers share challenges and innovations at bi-annual conference, and USDA better defines “unfair practices” under the Packers and Stockyards Act.

Greedflation at the Supermarket is Real

The FTC published a report confirming what many suspected about the role of profiteering in driving up food prices and aggravating shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Policy, RetailClaire KellowayApril 4, 2024FTC, Inflation, grocery

FTC Sues to Block Kroger-Albertsons Merger; USDA Finalizes Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Retaliation Rule

Antitrust enforcers dealt two major challenges to corporate power at different ends of the food supply chain over the past two weeks.

Why Albertsons and Kroger's Spinoff Deal Won’t Work

Checking in on antitrust review of Kroger and Albertson’s proposed merger, one year later.

Private Equity Prompts Another Grocery Merger, Aldi and Winn-Dixie

After extracting hundreds of millions in dividends and navigating two bankruptcies, Lone Star private equity wants to sell Winn-Dixie to Aldi, further consolidating the Florida grocery market and putting thousands of jobs at risk.

RetailClaire KellowaySeptember 21, 2023grocery, Groceries, mergers, private equity, Aldi, Secondary Feature

Retail Media Advertising Revenues Could Favor Big Stores and Big Brands

Grocers want to cash in on their troves of shopper data by selling more targeted ad spots online and in-store. But the largest grocers and food brands are poised to make the most money and sales off this growing trend.

RetailAnnie SholarJuly 27, 2023advertising, data, Kroger, walmart, grocery, Groceries

Walmart To Open Second Beef Plant, Raising Concerns About Vertical Integration in Cattle Markets

Walmart will source beef for its new case-ready beef plant in Kansas from Sustainable Beef, a rancher-owned packing plant in which Walmart has a minority stake. Founders say this is the future, other ranchers say its the end of competitive price discovery.

New Legislation Could Help Break Up the Visa-Mastercard Duopoly

Visa and Mastercard’s duopoly over credit networks has driven up swipe fees and raised costs for small grocers. A new bill wants to give stores more options for accepting credit cards.

Policy, RetailAnnie SholarJune 29, 2023Credit Cards, Visa, grocery, restaurant

Report Analyzes How Public Food Purchasing Can Promote Food Justice

A new report by the HEAL Food Alliance and Food Chain Workers Alliance draws on a decade of organizing to identify how public food purchasing programs can better advance racial equity and worker organizing.

As Food Prices Keep Rising, Study Finds Market Power Drove Pandemic Inflation

A new economic study makes the case that concentrated market power helped corporations pull off pandemic price hikes and reap record profits.

States Attorneys General Challenge Albertsons Private Equity Payout

Legal challenges to Albertsons’s special dividend put a spotlight on the ways private equity extraction drives grocery consolidation.

Retail, Mergers & AcquisitionsClaire KellowayNovember 10, 2022grocery, private equity, merger, Albertsons, Kroger, Secondary Feature