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Wegmans Highlights Falling Prices

ROCHESTER, N.Y. Last week, Wegmans Food Markets demonstrated to customers that the prices in its stores have kept pace with falling commodity and fuel costs, by using its weekly flier to compare current prices on many items with prices from one year ago. I have a sense that shoppers need to be reassured, Chief Executive Officer Danny Wegman said in a release. They need to know that we have kept our

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Last week, Wegmans Food Markets demonstrated to customers that the prices in its stores have kept pace with falling commodity and fuel costs, by using its weekly flier to compare current prices on many items with prices from one year ago.

“I have a sense that shoppers need to be reassured,” Chief Executive Officer Danny Wegman said in a release. “They need to know that we have kept our eye on the ball. That we monitor prices very closely and take steps to control our costs so we can keep prices low, and that what has happened to food prices is a cause for celebration.”

Fresh foods were the most notable beneficiaries, with average retail prices for poultry down 7%, pork down 26%, beef down 17%, cheese down 11%, milk down 26% and packaged breads down 20%, according to the release. Combined with price reductions on prescription drugs that the company instituted at its pharmacies in January, falling food prices have led to a total cost savings of $20 million on an annualized basis for Wegmans' shoppers, the company estimated.

Wegmans regularly informs its customers of outside factors that influence the price of food. For example, last year, Mary Ellen Burris, senior vice president of consumer affairs, wrote columns for the company's circulars detailing how rising fuel prices and other factors, including a spike in U.S. agricultural exports, were leading to price increases on many items.

TAGS: Marketing