CINCINNATI and LAS VEGAS, Sept. 22,
2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. Chairman and CEO
Rodney McMullen took the stage in
Las Vegas at Groceryshop, a
leading U.S. event for the retail, grocery, and consumer packaged
goods industries, for its annual conference during the opening
keynote themed Kroger Delivers the Future of Grocery Shopping
Now.
McMullen shared the company's continued focus on leading with
fresh and accelerating with digital by leveraging its complementary
assets to create innovative solutions for customers, a continually
improving workplace for associates, and a more sustainable
operation for the planet.
"Kroger's ability to proactively and strategically leverage our
assets has positioned us to lead and thrive," said McMullen. "Our
relentless focus on serving our customers, uplifting our
associates, and living our purpose to feed the human spirit has
guided us through the many unknowns of COVID-19 and these
principles will continue to shape our culture and operations as we
continue to transform and capitalize on the momentum we're
experiencing."
"Groceryshop is honored to have industry giants like Kroger join
us for this year's conference," said Krystina Gustafson, senior vice president of
content for Shoptalk and former CNBC retail reporter, who
interviewed McMullen for the keynote conversation. "The sector has
evolved immensely in the past 18 months, and Rodney McMullen's perspective emphasized just
how much consumer behavior has changed and how retailers are
responding and evolving to meet new expectations."
McMullen shared the following five insights at
Groceryshop:
1. The Customer is Going to Win
In
today's highly competitive and dynamic grocery retail environment,
the customer is going to win. Kroger continues to expand and
enhance its seamless ecosystem to create a model where customers
will not have to compromise on freshness, quality, selection,
pricing, convenience, or speed – no matter if they want groceries
now or tomorrow or want to shop in-store or online. Kroger doubled
its digital business in 2020 and has committed to doubling its
digital business again and profitability by the end of 2023.
Kroger's digital business continues to grow, as does Kroger
Precision Marketing, its retail media business. McMullen emphasized
the company currently has nearly 11 million daily retail customers
and four million daily online customers.
2. Think Food. Think Kroger.
Kroger
understands customers' meal and food needs shift by day, week, and
even hour… and surely by occasion. To solve for this, the company
is continually innovating and scaling its industry-leading assets,
including associates, stores, supply chain, fulfillment network,
fleet, technology systems, and data and insights, as well as
strategic partners, all to advance its seamless ecosystem that
combines traditional shopping solutions with strategic innovation.
As an example, last week Kroger introduced Kroger Delivery Now in
collaboration with Instacart. The 30-minute delivery solution
complements Kroger's existing assets by leveraging the retailer's
network of stores and Instacart's on-demand fulfillment network to
provide customers what they want when they need it. The new
offering meets the customer need for immediacy without compromising
on freshness, selection, value, experience, and speed, a retail
industry first.
3. Kroger Enhances the Associate
Experience
Kroger continues to invest in its nearly half a
million associates who have done an extraordinary job leading and
operating stores, e-commerce operations, pharmacies, supply chains,
and manufacturing facilities through the COVID-19 public health
crisis. Kroger's proactive approach to uplifting associates over
recent years is helping the company navigate the challenging labor
market. McMullen remarked that the company entered 2021 by planning
to invest $350 million in hourly wage
increases for associates this year, in addition to the $800 million the company invested in wages
between 2018 and 2020. The company's average hourly wage is now
more than $16 an hour and with
comprehensive benefits factored in, the wage will be approaching
$21 by the end of 2021. McMullen
commented 70% of current store leaders began as an hourly
associate, emphasizing Kroger is a place where you can come from a
job and stay for a career. He also highlighted associate benefits
like the company's education assistance program that provides up to
$21,000 for both part-time and
full-time associates – over the course of their career – and covers
a GED to PhD. Kroger is currently hiring for more than 20,000
positions in advance of the holiday season and will host a
nationwide hiring event on October 13
to recruit for store, e-commerce, corporate, manufacturing,
logistics, and pharmacy talent. Kroger invites individuals to apply
at jobs.kroger.com.
4. Kroger Celebrates Four-Year Anniversary of
Zero Hunger | Zero Waste
Through Kroger's Zero Hunger |
Zero Waste social and environmental impact plan—the centerpiece of
the company's environmental, social, and governance strategy—the
company continues to break down barriers to food access and capture
the full value of food produced across the U.S. food system.
Through the plan, Kroger is committed to creating communities free
of hunger and waste by inspiring associates and customers,
investing resources, and activating partnerships. Over the past
four years, Kroger has donated 1.8 billion meals to communities –
641 million meals in 2020 alone – provided $1.2 billion in charitable giving, and drove a
20% reduction in retail food waste generated. During the
conversation, McMullen announced a special donation of 10 meals on
behalf of every attendee at Groceryshop, totaling 25,000 meals to
Three Square, Southern Nevada's
only food bank and the area's largest hunger-relief
organization.
5. Kroger Looks Ahead to What's Next
Kroger's vision is to serve America through food inspiration
and uplift, and it remains focused on where its customers, as well
as broader food market, will be in 10 years. Through its growing
seamless ecosystem, the company will continue to expand its reach
and enter additional new geographies by leveraging assets like
Kroger Delivery customer fulfillment centers. McMullen shared the
new Kroger Delivery operation in Florida has ramped up faster than expected,
unlocking additional ways of executing and operating and resulting
in high customer repeat rates and net promoter scores.
He also predicts there will be a sustained trend of customers
choosing to cook at home versus restaurant dining because it
presents a way to better stretch food dollars, eat healthier, and
prepare household favorites as well as new recipes.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are
Fresh for Everyone™ and dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human
Spirit®. We are, across our family of companies, nearly half a
million associates who serve over 11 million customers daily
through a seamless shopping experience under a variety of banner
names. We are committed to creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste
communities by 2025. To learn more about us, visit our newsroom and
investor relations site.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, as that
term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, about the future performance of the company. These statements
are based on management's assumptions and beliefs in light of the
information currently available to it. Such statements are
indicated by the words "continue," "strategy," "will," "committed,"
"vision," and "predicts." These forward-looking statements are
subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially. We assume no obligation to update the
information contained herein. Please refer to Kroger's reports and
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a further
discussion of these risks and uncertainties.
About Groceryshop
A Hyve Group plc (LSE: HYVE:LN) event, Groceryshop produces the
leading online and offline events for innovation in grocery and
consumer packaged goods (CPG), covering the evolution of grocery
retailers, including supermarkets, mass merchants, convenience
stores, drug stores, club/warehouse stores, discount stores and
ecommerce players. Groceryshop events deal with the rapid changes
in the production and distribution of CPG, including fresh and
packaged foods and beverages along with beauty, personal care,
household and health products. Groceryshop events also address the
disruptive shifts in how consumers discover, shop and buy these
products in an increasingly wide range of stores and online
destinations, including the latest technologies, trends and
business models. For more information,
visit www.groceryshop.com.
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SOURCE The Kroger Co.