Kroger has become the largest sushi seller in the U.S., reports The Wall Street Journal. The supermarket chain sells over 40 million pieces of sushi a year, helping turn the product into an American staple.
Sushi is core to Kroger’s expansion strategy, capturing customers’ food dollars that would have gone to restaurants and eating out. This is part of a larger tug-of-war between grocery and foodservice, where retailers are vying for a larger piece of consumers' food budgets. Sushi is also helping to bring new customers into stores and driving the frequency of visits.
“When customers think of sushi, we want them to think of Kroger,” said Stuart Aitken, chief merchant and marketing officer at Kroger. Roughly 66 percent of Kroger stores have sushi sections.
Market research firm Circana shared that supermarkets are eating into restaurant sales of sushi but do not cannibalize other items in the prepared-food case. Across domestic grocery chains, sales of sushi are up over 50 percent over the past four years, and dollar sales are up 72 percent.
To help capture new audiences, Kroger has focused on the ingredients’ quality with strict merchandising standards. Additionally, it continues to innovate on sushi concepts, recently adding the crunchy combo and spicy combo boxes following market research and testing. Full Story (Subscription Required)
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