Join us for a discussion of the grocery business and the compelling opportunities for existing and new players in the Chicago retail food market.
Event Details
Changing Chicago grocers—market opportunities & threats
Grocery is in the midst of a lot of upheaval and the size of the Chicago market gives us a front seat view. While competing on price will work for some retailers in some markets, it's not usually a strategy for long-term growth. When there are too many players in the field, there are bound to be some losers.
Safeway, the second-largest U.S. mainstream grocery store operator, failed to replicate its cost management success and bring its scale to create value in Chicago. Finally, they chose to dramatically cut their losses, literally shuttering every Dominick's store and selling them piecemeal. Just as more consumers are shopping for everything virtually, the grocery business has been slower to invest in digital technologies.
What changes and value does Cerberus Capital $9.4billion bid for Safeway expect? As the owner of Albertsons, Cerberus also purchased Jewel-Osco in March of 2013 and opens up lots of interesting questions and fodder for a live strategy study. Dominick's exit forced Chicago area consumers to rethink their shopping habits. How has this sudden retreat by a significant competitor and the new purchases impact other players and their growth strategies? Once again, the story as it has played out these last few months continues to unfold, but there's ample data to begin our live inquiry.
So Join us on April 25 (note we are skipping Good Friday and so we are meeting on the 4th Friday)
We will talk about the Grocery business and identify compelling opportunities for existing and new players in the Chicago retail food market. With so many good articles it was hard to choose—they are short, and many we've included as optional.
How much is that Former Dominick's Worth
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20140303/CRED03/140309976/how-much-is-that-former-dominicks-worth
Why Grocery stores are so 20th century
http://mashable.com/2012/06/27/groceries-tech/
National association of Grocers Association recent meeting-How to be a best in class retailer.
http://www.nationalgrocers.org/docs/default-source/student-programs/financial-bencmarks---how-to-be-a-best-in-class-retailer.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Mckinsey's look at Grocery
http://t.co/nM4BHi3NG3
Optional—a series of short articles:
Why Trader Joes stands out from the rest in the grocery business
http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2011/09/05/why-trader-joes-stands-out-from-all-the-rest-in-the-grocery-business/
Beating the Odds: Roundy wins independent retailer of the Year
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Beating+the+odds%3A+Roundy%27s+has+come+a+long+way+in+the+last+decade,...-a0321180784
Inside Chicago's specialty Grocery Store Boom
Jan 2014
http://chicago.racked.com/archives/2014/01/29/contributor-tori-telfer-xx-2013.php
Registration
Register Online
Please read the articles in advance and bring your questions and thoughts to the discussion.
NOTE: Registration is limited to the first 20 participants who register. If you have signed up and discover you can't attend please cancel and open your space for someone else.
Deadline: 4/23/2014