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My closest Kroger-owned outlet has a "cheap" feel but many prices are actually much, much higher than the nearby Trader Joe's. More on par with Whole Foods. An

My closest Kroger-owned outlet has a "cheap" feel but many prices are actually much, much higher than the nearby Trader Joe's. More on par with Whole Foods. An insidious conglomerate.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
Some grocery stores like Aldi and Lidl and Winco and Costco and Walmart have a strategy of pricing low all the time (e.g. everything at ~115% of their cost to source it). Some, like Kroger and Albertsons, price some things low and some things high, betting that people coming into the store for a lower priced product will pay more for the convenience of not having to go to another store. And this is frequently accomplished by giving out coupons (e.g. some things are losing them money, some are at cost, some are at 100% profit margin).
- rhino369 4y ago
  When I worked at an Albertson's subsidiary store, there was a bunch of stuff that was "on sale" 3 out of every 4 weeks, but the "sale" price was the real price and you'd just get ripped off the 4th week.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    The crazy part is a good portion of the population prefers feeling like they got a deal because something is “on sale” rather than just paying a lower non sale price. See JC Penney’s disastrous experiment with removing sales/coupons and just offering low prices.
    - Mountain_Skies 4y ago
      Harbor Freight is going through a variation of this now. They used to be famous for their coupons that were so easy to obtain that the shelf price might as well have been the coupon price. Changing over to just having the shelf price be the true price has been poorly received by a good chunk of regular shoppers there, even though what they really did was get rid of the ceremonial dead chicken waiving of using coupons. Haven't checked recently but I think they've started reintroducing coupons because people loved feeling like they were getting a special deal even if they weren't.

My closest Kroger-owned outlet has a "cheap" feel but many prices are actually much, much higher than the nearby Trader Joe's. More on par with Whole Foods. An insidious conglomerate.

lotsofpulp 4y ago

Some grocery stores like Aldi and Lidl and Winco and Costco and Walmart have a strategy of pricing low all the time (e.g. everything at ~115% of their cost to source it). Some, like Kroger and Albertsons, price some things low and some things high, betting that people coming into the store for a lower priced product will pay more for the convenience of not having to go to another store. And this is frequently accomplished by giving out coupons (e.g. some things are losing them money, some are at cost, some are at 100% profit margin).

rhino369 4y ago
When I worked at an Albertson's subsidiary store, there was a bunch of stuff that was "on sale" 3 out of every 4 weeks, but the "sale" price was the real price and you'd just get ripped off the 4th week.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  The crazy part is a good portion of the population prefers feeling like they got a deal because something is “on sale” rather than just paying a lower non sale price. See JC Penney’s disastrous experiment with removing sales/coupons and just offering low prices.
  - Mountain_Skies 4y ago
    Harbor Freight is going through a variation of this now. They used to be famous for their coupons that were so easy to obtain that the shelf price might as well have been the coupon price. Changing over to just having the shelf price be the true price has been poorly received by a good chunk of regular shoppers there, even though what they really did was get rid of the ceremonial dead chicken waiving of using coupons. Haven't checked recently but I think they've started reintroducing coupons because people loved feeling like they were getting a special deal even if they weren't.