Facebook Live: Retailers Readjusting to New Reality

Food retailers are getting “fat and happy,” noted Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert in the June 16 Facebook Live segment with Winsight Grocery Business editors and CSP editor Brett Dworski as the group discussed the current situation facing retailers: Consumer prices are going up as are profits for supermarkets as many of the expenses associated with the coronavirus have yet to hit the bottom line and sales are still soaring. At Albertsons Cos., for example, comps in the first 12 weeks of its 16-week fiscal first quarter, are up by 30%, and gross margins were up to 30.4% of sales compared to 27.9% last year.

The group also addressed the elimination of hero pay as the country reopens; a Glassdoor survey indicating heavy demand for grocery managers, and Save Mart's move to transition 683 of the 1,000 temporary workers it hired to permanent positions. But will sales continue to demand such an increase in staffing as Nielsen reported only a 2.5% increase in sales?

In c-store news, more signs of things returning to normal as TravelCenter of America reopened full-service dining in 18 states across the country. This is more than one-third of the states they operate in, Dworski noted.

Watch the latest installment of Winsight Live as the group discusses these topics and many others, including what’s up with name brand paper goods?