In-store moves contribute to Weis Markets’ bright Q4 report

Weis Markets Inc. is still experiencing positive growth. The grocery retailer announced fourth quarter earnings, and net sales amounted to $1.31 billion, an 18% increase compared to fourth quarter 2021, which notched $1.11 billion.  Comparable store sales were up 9.5% on an individual year-over-year basis and increased 16.4% on a two-year stacked basis.

“We continued our positive momentum in the fourth quarter which contributed to a strong fiscal year 2022,” said Weis Markets, Inc. Chairman, President and CEO Jonathan Weis. “Our fourth quarter results were favorably impacted by disciplined loyalty marketing programs and ongoing price investments across the store. The focus on customer experience along with leveraging store level and supply chain efficiencies helped offset some of the current inflationary pressures of higher product, fuel, utilities, and other operating costs.

“We also continued to reinvest in our future through execution of our multi-year capital expenditures program, completing 10 store remodels, three new fuel centers, one new store, one rebuild, and a record number of smaller projects which help us efficiently serve our customers,” said Weis. “We are grateful to our dedicated store, supply chain, manufacturing, and support center associates who make our success possible.”

Related:Weis Markets upholds sales momentum in third quarter

For the year, Weis Markets brought in $4.7 billion, an 11.2% increase over FY 2021. Fiscal year 2022 comparable store sales increased 8.8% on an individual year-over-year basis and increased 10.5% on a two-year stacked basis. The company’s FY 2022 net income totaled $125.2 million compared to $108.85 million in 2021, a 15% rise.

In August 2022, Weis Markets announced a partnership with fresh grocery platform Invafresh to deliver “the freshest foods” possible to its customers while also refining its product-demand projections and cutting food waste.

The partnership has streamlined fresh-food operations in the Sunbury, Pa.-based grocer’s 198 stores by developing demand forecasting, in-store production planning, food traceability, recipe management and cut test management across all fresh departments. The Invafresh Fresh Retail Platform has helped upgrade Weis’ fresh food operations lifecycle, from purchase to prepared food production planning, using visibility and quality control to maximize freshness and deliver a consistent consumer experience. The platform incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning to hone operations while reducing waste.

Back in May, the grocery retailer cut prices on hundreds of top-selling frozen products through its “Low, Low Price” platform. The multimillion-dollar investment brought price reductions of 13% and 33% on both store-brand and national-brand frozen groceries.

Related:Weis Markets caps off strong fiscal 2022 first half