Sample Chart Teaser to Gated Report
Food retailers have made tremendous strides in their omnichannel programs since news of Amazon’s Whole Foods buy hit last June. Comparing Progressive Grocer’s 2018 Annual Report, which was published last month, with its 2017 Annual Report, more than double the number of grocers polled (28 percent versus 12.2 percent) have a fully integrated omnichannel strategy in place, while the number of those with no omnichannel services at all declined from 46.5 percent to 32.7 percent. This corresponds with the fact that “keeping up with advancements in technology” shot up to No. 3 from No. 9 in the list of issues that respondents said keep them up at night.
Amazon now has a prominent spot on the Super 50 list — one that could become even more so in the next year. Clearly, however, its competitors are doing — and will continue to do — everything they can to keep the Seattle-based online retailer at bay.
Progressive Grocer Super 50 (H3)
Download the full Top 50 chart. (link to gated download)
2018 Rank, Fiscal Year-End Sales (000)
- Walmart Inc., $159,809,000 (This is just an ordered list)
- The Kroger Co., 79,240,200
- Albertsons Cos. Inc., $61,261,200
- Ahold Delhaize USA, $46,119,320
- Publix Super Markets Inc., $28,535,000
- H.E. Butt Grocery Co., $16,451,500
- Amazon (as Whole Foods Market) Seattle, $15,655,900
- Aldi Inc., $14,664,780
- Southeastern Grocers LLC, $11,484,200
- Trader Joe's Co., $10,995,660
Download the full Top 50 chart. (also includes 2017 ranks, number of stores, top banners, and website URLs.) (Duplicated link to gated download)
| 2018 Rank | Company | Fiscal Year-End Sales (000) |
No. Supermarkets |
| 1 | Walmart Inc. | $159,809,000 | 4,248 |
| 2 | The Kroger Co. | $79,240,200 | 2,787 |
| 3 | Albertsons Cos. Inc. | $61,261,200 | 2,320 |
| 4 | Ahold Delhaize USA | $46,119,320 | 1,954 |
| 5 | Publix Super Markets Inc. | $28,535,000 | 1,180 |
| 6 | H.E. Butt Grocery Co. | $16,451,500 | 328 |
| 7 | Amazon (as Whole Foods Market) Seattle | $15,655,900 | 458 |
| 8 | Aldi Inc. | $14,664,780 | 1,750 |
| 9 | Southeastern Grocers LLC | $11,484,200 | 704 |
| 10 | Trader Joe's Co. | $10,995,660 | 475 |
Download the Full Top 50 List with banners, employees and other additional information.
Progressive Grocer Top 50 Grocers Report Download
Download the full list of the Top 50 Grocers, including rankings, annual sales, total stores, and top banners.
DownloadMind you, for the moment, it’s just as the new owner of record of Whole Foods Market — up from ninth a year ago — and doesn’t reflect other grocery sales, mostly nonperishables, that Amazon has been growing in recent years. But it’s certainly a sign of how things are going to continue to change.
Shortly before the May 2018 issue was completed, it was widely reported that Amazon’s U.S. grocery sales in the first quarter of 2018 rose nearly 50 percent, up to an estimated $650 million, led by coffee, beverages and snacks, according to ecommerce data analyst One Click Retail. Yet while Amazon is the most-shopped online grocer overall, consumers are more often shopping Walmart (the Super 50’s No. 1) online for daily trips, including fresh categories, according to a Coresight Research study.
As we observed in our 85th Annual Report of the Grocery Industry in April 2018, Amazon’s rise up the grocery ranks doesn’t sound the death knell for traditional retailers — only for traditional retailing.
To be sure, progressive grocers had been hard at work changing the way they do business prior to the marriage of Amazon and Whole Foods. Online ordering, click-and-collect, delivery services, scan-and-go platforms, enhanced fresh offerings and compelling in-store experiences are among the many ways that players up and down the Super 50 are making themselves more competitive and relevant to new generations of shoppers.
