August 20, 2024 — U.S. retailer Kroger filed a motion for preliminary injunction against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) challenge of its merger with Albertsons, one week after confirming it would lower grocery prices by USD 1 billion (EUR 900 million) if the merger is approved.
Simultaneously, UFCW Local 555, a union representing grocery employees, pulled its support for the Kroger-Albertsons merger and voted to strike against Fred Meyer, a Kroger subsidiary.
August 7, 2024 — Following on a ruling by a federal judge that temporarily halted a USD 25 billion (EUR 22.9 billion) merger of the Kroger and Albertsons grocery chains, a group of 25 U.S. legislators have filed an amicus brief calling for the deal to be blocked from advancing.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser sued to block the proposed merger in mid-February, claiming the merger of the two retail giants would eliminate competition and impact prices, especially in Colorado.
April 28, 2024 — Soon after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued to block the USD 24.6 billion (EUR 23 billion) proposed merger between retailers Kroger and Albertsons, the two companies said that they plan to divest more stores than originally planned in an attempt to get the merger passed.
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.-based The Kroger Co. and Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.-based Albertsons Companies have amended their divestiture agreement with C&S Wholesale Grocers to sell 166 additional stores to C&S.
November 27, 2023 — Albertsons is rolling out an artificial intelligence platform chain-wide to reduce seafood shrink.
After a successful pilot project earlier this year, the Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.-based grocer is implementing AI technology from San Francisco, California, U.S.A.-based Afresh Technologies through the 2,200 grocery stores it operates under the Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Vons, and ACME banners.
September 12, 2023 — Retail analysts and consumer groups believe the pending merger between massive U.S. grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons could negatively impact seafood suppliers and shoppers, warning that, if approved, it would result in fewer options for consumers, higher prices, less competition, and the possible shuttering of smaller grocery chains.
The proposed USD 24.6 billion (EUR 22.8 billion) merger, announced last October between Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.-based Albertsons and Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.-based Kroger, would combine the forces of two companies that together operate 4,996 stores, 66 distribution centers, 52 manufacturing plants, 3,972 pharmacies, and 2,015 fuel centers across the U.S.
October 14, 2022 — Two prominent U.S. grocery store chains will be merging, they announced on 14 October.
Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons is likely to impact how the retailer sources its seafood products.
January 25, 2021 — If you could peek inside America’s cupboards and refrigerators, you’d see tableaus that capture changes wrought by the pandemic: Towers of paper goods, loads of comfort food, caches of upmarket coffee. You might also be surprised to see an unusual amount of seafood.
Frozen seafood sales at U.S. supermarkets and other food retailers rose 26% in the four weeks ended Dec. 27 from a year earlier, according to market research company IRI, far stronger than the 6% growth for consumer packaged goods overall. Fresh seafood sales rose 25% in the same period. That strong result wasn’t just a holiday binge: Since the onset of the pandemic, seafood sales growth has tended to outpace that of the grocery store as a whole by a comfortable margin.
The seafood spending surge is an example of the hard-to-foresee ways the pandemic continues to displace and redirect consumer demand. Typically, an outsize share of Americans’ spending on seafood is at restaurants. Consumers spent $69.6 billion in 2017 on seafood at restaurants and other food-service venues, according to a U.S. government report, compared with $32.5 billion spent at stores for home consumption. But with many white-tablecloth dining rooms closed or operating at reduced capacity during the pandemic, shoppers who perhaps rarely cooked seafood before have decided to put seared salmon, shrimp scampi and steamed lobsters on their own kitchen tables.
The trend is apparent everywhere, from big-box retailers to discount chains and traditional supermarkets. Walmart Inc. has had such strong growth in both fresh and frozen seafood at its U.S. business during the pandemic that the giant expanded its fresh shellfish offering in the fall. Lidl said it had a “double-digit” increase in seafood sales in the past year, while Albertsons Cos. executives said on a January earnings call that seafood sales had delivered quarterly comparable sales growth above the company average. Conventional supermarket Stop & Shop said it is carrying a bigger selection of seafood as shoppers have increased purchases, while Whole Foods Market is experiencing “huge growth” in frozen seafood, according to Wesley Rose, the chain’s vice president for seafood. That led the upscale chain to expand its selection to include value packs of halibut, barramundi and arctic char. With fresh offerings such as red snapper also selling well, Whole Foods has added black cod and farm-raised striped bass to fish counters at most of its stores.
September 16, 2020 — Kroger, Walmart, Target, Albertsons, and other major U.S. grocery chains are experiencing record e-commerce grocery sales. And while total grocery e-commerce sales declined in August, analysts expect stronger future growth.
U.S. grocery delivery and pickup sales for August totaled USD 5.7 billion (EUR 4.8 billion), down from their peak in June, according to the August 2020 Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey.
May 5, 2020 — Sales of seafood in supermarkets, through e-commerce grocery outlets, and via meal kits continued their strong growth in the United States in April.
Online grocery sales surged 37 percent from March to April 2020 to reach USD 5.3 billion (EUR 4.9 billion), a recent Brick Meets Click/Symphony RetailAI Online Grocery Shopping Survey found. There were also record grocery e-commerce sales of USD 4 billion (EUR 3.7 billion) in March, the research firms revealed.
March 8, 2018 — Albertsons Companies, which operates more than 2,300 grocery stores in the United States, has selected Trace Register to trace its seafood products.
Trace Register’s TR+ Analytics with CMCA (continuous monitoring continuous auditing) will enable Albertsons Companies to meet sustainability specifications in the seafood supply chain on every shipment, according to Albertsons.
“Trace Register’s leading-edge monitoring and analytics will help track the movement of our products from the oceans or farm all the way to our U.S. distribution centers so we can verify that our requirements for sustainable, responsible sourcing are met,” said Anthony Snow, director of seafood for Albertsons Companies.
Read the full story at Seafood Source
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