Friday Cash: Outdoor Markets Become Essential for Grocers

While grocery retailers are becoming more e-commerce savvy, they are not giving up on using third-party e-commerce providers—in fact, their partnerships are growing.

In their second-quarter results released in early August, DoorDash and Uber executives told investors they were expanding their food businesses. Uber CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah told investors that 15% of Uber Eats customers shop in the food category.

The question of whether retailers would move away from third-party marketplaces in favor of white-label or in-house e-commerce solutions has become increasingly important since the pandemic-induced e-commerce boom. But as the online shopping environment stabilizes, third-party marketplaces say they are becoming invaluable to grocers large and small.

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu told investors that large companies are “trying to reach a very valuable customer base, many of whom come to us for groceries and these new verticals.”

“Most retailers can’t keep up with our pace of innovation on their own, so by integrating with us, they gain continuous improvements that drive growth with minimal cost and effort,” Instacart CEO Fidji Simo told investors.

Marketplaces are using their scale to become retail media giants. Instacart, for example, is building its online and in-store solutions for retailers that connect to its multichannel retail media network. In Uber’s case, ad spending in grocery and retail has more than tripled year-over-year, noted CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Marketplaces are also addressing affordability challenges with e-grocery. Instacart’s recent promotional efforts have helped grocers see a slight increase in mail order sales between the first and second quarter of this year, according to the latest report by Brick Meets Click and Mercatus.

While grocery store owners would likely like to have full control over e-commerce fulfillment and customer data, the innovative solutions and additional revenues offered by these third parties mean that supermarkets are likely to maintain their presence in the market.

In case you missed it

‘Farm Fresh Eggs’ Lawsuit Won’t Hatch for Kroger

A U.S. District Court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that accused Kroger of misleading consumers with a “farm fresh” label to describe eggs from hens raised in industrial cages, Reuters reported that.

Judge Charles Kocoras found that reasonable consumers would not agree with the plaintiffs’ claim that “farm-fresh” necessarily means hens “living on farms with open green space, grass, hay and straw,” the publication noted.

Earth Fare partners with Flashfood

Specialty grocery store published on LinkedIn On Wednesday, it had partnered with a technology company that deals with food waste in select stores. The Flashfood app offers heavily discounted food that is coming to an end.

Raley Launches Veterans and First Responders Discount Program

The chain announced on Tuesday his new program offers 10% off the first Tuesday of every month and designated holidays throughout the year for service members and first responders. Retired and active military, first responders and their families can take advantage of the discount program on in-store and online purchases.

Week Number: 37%

This is percentage of the US online grocery market Walmart posted its second-quarter 2024 earnings result — the highest in the retailer’s history, according to Brick Meets Click and Mercatus.

What’s next?

Lots of profits

SpartanNash and Walmart plan to hold second-quarter financial results conference calls on Thursday.

We are waiting for inflation data

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release consumer price index data for July on Wednesday.

Latest Retail Sales

The U.S. Census Bureau plans to release retail sales data for the past month on Thursday.

Impulse find

In recent years, grocery store owners have taken extra precautions to reduce theft and losses in their stores — but they haven’t created a system to prevent seagull thefts.

Noah Karberg of Nantucket, Massachusetts, is offering a reward for the return of a wallet that was stolen by a seagull outside his local Stop & Shop. UPI reported. Karberg he told NBC Boston left his phone and wallet on a tray on a shopping cart as he loaded groceries into his truck: “I grab the last few bags in the back seat, go back to the shopping cart, and there’s a seagull sitting right in front of me, grabs my wallet, and flies away!”

Karberg captured video of the flying criminal as he flew to the roof of a nearby car wash and watched as a seagull began to go through the contents of his wallet, UPI reported. Karberg could do nothing but watch as his money flew in the wind.

“It was like a seagull with a plan,” he told NBC Boston. “I put in the cash and went straight to my Amex card.”