European grocery chains are driving a new round of concentration in American food retail, as they race to buy up independent grocers or drive them out of business. In the most recent deal, Stop & Shop, a subsidiary of Dutch-based Ahold-Delhaize, announced it will acquire Long Island supermarket chain, King Kullen, America’s first-ever supermarket.
Read MoreLast week, organic and natural foods distributor, United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) announced plans to buy the largest publicly traded grocery wholesaler, Supervalu, for just under $3 billion. The deal is largely a defensive move by UNFI after Amazon bought their largest customer, Whole Foods.
Read MoreLast week, Walmart announced plans to sell its U.K. subsidiary Asda to rival British grocery chain Sainsbury’s. The proposed deal would create the largest grocery store chain in British history, with more than 31 percent of the market in the hands of one company. It would put even more pressure on farmers and food suppliers, and threaten 330,000 employees with job losses.
Read MoreA frenzy of deal-making is remaking the food delivery app business. In January, UberEats acquired Ando, a food delivery startup founded by celebrity chef David Chang. In early March, Japanese conglomerate Softbank invested $535 million into DoorDash. A few weeks later, Grubhub expanded its partnership with the review site Yelp to facilitate ordering home delivery of restaurant meals. Meanwhile, the tech publication ReCode reported last week, DoorDash and Postmates have discussed merging.
Read MoreKroger, Albertson’s and Walmart are just a few of the big U.S. grocers that have committed to transitioning to sell only cage-free eggs over the next decade. But a bill in Iowa would block grocers from going entirely cage-free in the state, a move that illustrates the power of the factory farm egg industry in the country’s biggest egg-producing state.
Read MoreAmazon’s announcement in June that it plans to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion has led to speculation throughout the retail industry about the corporation’s intentions in the grocery sector. Supply chain and retail workers in particular fear the merger will result in layoffs and less bargaining power overall. Some are ratcheting up unionization efforts in response.
Read MoreA recent decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court will overturn a 72-year-old restriction on how many licenses a liquor retailer in the state can hold. The case was brought by Total Wine & More, a Maryland-based liquor retailer with over 150 “big box” stores in 20 states. Now, small retailers fear they will be forced out of business as larger companies become the dominant liquor retailers in the state.
Read MoreWhole Foods’ recent decision to centralize buying for its U.S. stores will likely make it much harder for smaller producers of organic and natural foods to get to market. The move could thus further solidify the control of the corporate food giants currently dominating the organic and natural foods sector.
Read MoreAmazon has applied for licenses to open liquor warehouses in Columbus and Cincinnati that would allow the company to sell beer, wine, and liquor for delivery as well as carryout. This move is the latest in the company’s increasingly aggressive attempts to position itself as a dominant player in brick-and-mortar food as well as online beverage retail.
Read MoreFarmers, workers, and consumers alike may soon feel the effects of further consolidation in the already concentrated industry of grocery retail. On July 22, the Federal Trade Commission approved the latest in a long series of supermarket mergers, further concentrating control over U.S. food markets in the hands of a few giant corporations.
Read MoreRetailers are positioning themselves to charge customers based on their willingness to pay—so that my Burberry-dressed neighbor pays more than my thrifty neighbor for the same product. How are retailers tracking our shopping habits, and what does it mean for you?
Read MoreAt the National Retail Federation annual conference, retailers discuss how to use big data to personalize customer prices. Tactics include in-store cameras that track which products you’re examining, so Kroger can send you a coupon for chips as you’re still roaming the salsa aisle. Or if you buy cat food towards the end of the month, you’ll be e-mailed a special offer on the 25th, rather than showered with ads all the time. But do the savings outweigh the creepiness?
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