Live data from Hacker News

Kroger's Digital Struggle

joshstrange.com

71–80 of 80 posts

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#71

I don’t hate Kroger’s app. If I’m at the store I can search for an item and find out what aisle it’s in. Complaints seem to be more about shopping online.

Can you see the aisle without first adding it to a list?

A few months ago, you could see the price in lists. Suddenly that stored.

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live, Kroger used to do their own delivery, but they've switched to Instacart for fulfillment now. I've stopped doing Kroger delivery because the Instacart people are WAY too annoying to deal with; I hate having to babysit every single decision the Instacart shoppers make. I would happily pay more for in-house Kroger shoppers, but there's no option to do so.

Weirdly in Florida Kroger is doing grocery delivery via its own vehicles, but no Kroger stores exist in the state, only distribution centers.

Kroger owns a dizzying number of brands. If be shocked if you didn't have at least one of their supermarket chains there.

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weirdly in Florida Kroger is doing grocery delivery via its own vehicles, but no Kroger stores exist in the state, only distribution centers.

Kroger owns a dizzying number of brands. If be shocked if you didn't have at least one of their supermarket chains there.

[deleted]

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#75

Tech, let me introduce low margin retail. Kroger has a margin between 1 and 2 percent: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/KR/key-statistics (depending on your preferred measure). And yoy earnings are down. And it's even worse in the delivery app subcategory. Why bother with that tech when Instacart etc are losing 3 dollars for every dollar they bring in? Seems like best case scenario you get to sell to their customers a…

Where I live, Kroger used to do their own delivery, but they've switched to Instacart for fulfillment now. I've stopped doing Kroger delivery because the Instacart people are WAY too annoying to deal with; I hate having to babysit every single decision the Instacart shoppers make. I would happily pay more for in-house Kroger shoppers, but there's no option to do so.

At my Kroger in the midwest, you have the option for either. But you dont tip when you use Kroger and tbh, they do a much better job at picking out the items. If they went to Instacart only, I would cease to use the service.

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#76
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blue Ash is a suburb of Cincinnati (where Kroger is headquartered), so not quite the middle of nowhere but also not exactly a tech hotspot.

Thanks. I'm not super well versed in Cinci and didn't mean to insult them as a city, but it seems like Blue Ash is 15 miles from the city center and 30 miles to the airport. Seemed kinda far out accounting for traffic and such. Or is it one of those cities where more is going on in the suburbs than the city proper(lived in one of those myself)?

It's really not far out of the way -- it's right on 275 (the circle freeway around Cincinnati), and is very much a tech hotspot. Blue Ash is filled with tall office buildings and giant parking lots that house various tech companies -- everyone from Sogeti to Johnson & Johnson to innumerable other players are located in Blue Ash. It's been this way all the way back to the 90's -- always felt like the hotspot for tech jobs. Downtown is a relic for established blue chip companies (like P&G) -- if you're an up-and-coming tech company in Cincinnati, chances are you're in Blue Ash.

Proximity to the airport isn't really a big deal -- the airport isn't even in Ohio and is far away from literally everything. City center isn't a big deal -- that's more important for night life, and it's a pain to get in and out of. Believe it or not, Blue Ash has always felt way more accessible to me than downtown.

The most "happening" shopping center in Cincinnati right now is Kenwood, which is right next to Blue Ash -- overall located near far better retail biomes than downtown. Not everything in Cincinnati is going on in the suburbs (downtown and Newport have seen a big resurgence in years of late), but the north suburbs (like Sharonville, Blue Ash, Fairfield, Kenwood) are still some of the more "up" places in the city.

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weirdly in Florida Kroger is doing grocery delivery via its own vehicles, but no Kroger stores exist in the state, only distribution centers.

Kroger owns a dizzying number of brands. If be shocked if you didn't have at least one of their supermarket chains there.

There are not. It is by design...

https://www.wesh.com/article/kroger-central-florida/38508663

Kroger delivers groceries to Central Florida without opening a single store

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#79

> I want better for Kroger Same company who avoided Apple Pay for years to push their ridiculous Kroger Pay.

Walmart/Home Depot/Winco are the only big Apple Pay holdouts that I know of now.

It's annoying but at least with Home Depot you enter your card number in the app and find receipts for all the home widgets you bought that you don't actually need

Re: Kroger's Digital Struggle

#80

Heard a talk by their CEO and I was impressed by his focus on technology as a differentiator and competitive advantage. I will also say that technology is more than just the website/app - it is also their supply chain and how they run the stores.

Was it their earnings call? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-15/the-ceo-o...
Post reply on HN