Retail

During the Cincinnati-based retailer’s Q1 earnings call on Thursday, before the Whole Foods sale was announced, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said earnings would be about nine percent lower than initially forecast due to new investments in pricing and service, as well as margin pressure. The retailer’s stock price plunged 19 percent on Thursday as a result of the struggles, then — similar to other retailers– fell another 13 percent Friday once the Whole Foods deal was done. The market slowly began rebounding late Monday morning.

In a deal that’s shaking the shopping experience for consumers, retailers, and food and beverage companies, Amazon’s scooping up of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion on Friday has hardened talk of large-scale disruption in the way consumers buy their groceries. The deal is the largest U.S. grocery transaction since a $17.4 billion takeover of Albertsons, according to Mergermarket. Here’s an in-depth look into the acquisition and its implications for the retailers and beyond.

It’s crunch time for retailers. To attract new customers, retain current customers and plan for long-term, consistent sales growth, several retailers revealed new stores, marketing strategies and location plays over the last week.

With consumer desire for healthy and natural items firmly solidified, Hy-Vee announced it is ready to expand its HealthMarket to a wider array of its stores. The expansion is part of several corporate restructuring efforts at the company’s West Des Moines headquarters.

Retailers like Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and 7-Eleven are redefining their strategies and expanding their store counts to see their profits bloom this spring.

An annual health and wellness progress report conducted by Consumer Goods Forum found that 66 percent of reporting companies reformulated products in 2016. But of those companies, roughly 27 percent made their policies regarding nutrition and product formulation public.