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Description
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has achieved its position as the world's largest retailer by leveraging an "Every Day Low Price" strategy to attract and retain value-conscious shoppers.
That blueprint extends to the deli, where price--as evidenced by the sale of $4.48 rotisserie chickens--remains a key merchandising element.
Yet, the company is not positioning price alone as a recipe for deli success. Wal-Mart is actively testing new products and sales concepts as it strives to keep pace with consumers' growing interest in taste, convenience and health.
Initiatives include the launch of a sandwich bar, hot soup stations, new product sizes and the use of cooking oils with zero grams of trans fat when developing hot prepared offerings.
"Wal-Mart is the primary Pete place for many shoppers to buy food so such new elements are a natural extension for the deli," says Doug Adams, president of Prime Consulting Group, a Bannockburn, Ill.-based retail advisory firm. "The deli can be a good draw in building customer loyalty, which can spill over into other departments."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. operates more than 3,600 retail units in the U.S., including more than 1,900 Supercenters and 95 Neighborhood Markets, both of which feature full-scale grocery operations. Other stores include more than 575 Sam's Club locations--which typically sell deli items in bulk--and more than 1,100 Wal-Mart units that offer a limited amount of prepackaged frozen and refrigerated deli products.
Some of the deli's greatest growth is occurring in the convenience sector where take-out meals, including take-and-bake pizzas and hot selections, are increasing in popularity.
The 16-inch pizzas--which are prepared by an undisclosed supplier and typically priced between $9.44 and $9.88--have been available for about 18 months and are being merchandised in up to 30 linear feet of space, compared to about four linear... |
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