Keen to understand what is happening in various Industry Sectors i like to monitor the feeds stemming from several sectors. Just today i grabbed a few headlines to share just how the pendulum continues to swing until we find our new normal or datum ... followed with our own opinion ....
Grocery sales are up, but discount stores are reaping the benefits
Grocery sales increased 8.3% in June, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau — a solid month’s performance for the industry.
But that result masks what’s become a very turbulent shopping landscape. Consumers are feeling battered from rising prices and changing their habits as a result. Research shows they’re buying more private labels, condensing trips and eating more at home.
During the pandemic Grocery retailers become fat, dumb and Happy since cash flow hides many sins. We even attempted to work with one retailer to implement some changes that would have differenated them coming out of the pandemic ... but we were ignored. I really don't know how they are currently fairing but personally i have not been in one of their stores for 4 months since my new favorite is "No Frills". As i had cautioned them as they cut costs by implementing self check-out i no longer had a relationship to their store and with no relationship, no commitment i purely shop for maximum value and surprise my new friendly grocery store is staffed with people at check-outs.
“We don’t see any growth. We can’t add growth because we can’t
get equipment, can’t get people, and we’ve lost productivity.” Mullen cautioned
better opportunities will come along in the future. “We’re not biting. I’ll wait it out…I’m not fishing right now.
This came from within the trucking industry and boy did this one really hurt. Granted there is not much to differenate between trucking companies ... Power Units are equally priced at around 130-150K per unit, Trailers are also similarly priced and surprise all of the trucking companies can only drive at a maximum of 100KM or 60MPH so the differenator is the foot-print and customer service.
However there is no excuse to accept poor productivity by deciding to wait it out. With so little differenators between trucking companies (if you want to know how many exist just count them as you drive down any highway seldom will you see the same brand twice within an hour), productivity should be top of mind ... always.
Domino’s same-store delivery sales in the U.S. fell by 11.7% during Q2 2022 compared to the year-ago quarter
The gap between delivery same-store sales at its top-performing stores, which are stores that are considered fully staffed, versus its bottom-performing stores decreased to 11% during Q2 versus a 17% gap in the first quarter,
The gurus are miss reading the tea leaves. Consumers are no longer willing to pay the premium for delivery and opting to enter into the open air to retrieve their food. No longer are people willing to see delivery services snag up to 30% of a restaurant's invoice for delivery unless they are either bed ridden or heavily lubricated.
We are already seeing significantly amped up marketing and advertising promoting delivery services across all media channels, which i liken to shifting the chairs on the deck of the Titanic ... sorry people this service is going away or will be significantly minimized.
Although we are seeing many of the food delivery services morph into becoming more like your personal concierge covering many of of your traditional errands into a delivery service.
What is the answer?
Like others i am also pondering where the new normal will settle. My only certainty is that it is going to take longer than i thought. The Pandemic has invaded our culture which had people shift to remote locations to work remotely. But ultimately we need to acknowledge that people are social creatures and need all of our 4 senses to effectively build relationships for collaboration.
I encourage you to keep your Voice of the Customer Critical to Tree's very close along with your Enterprise Value Stream Map and remain very agile and flexible, but most important keep your team members well informed and extremely well educated.
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