Kroger is an American retail company that runs supermarkets and many department stores all through the United States. Their main agenda is to end hunger and eliminate waste by 2025. They have the company’s headquarters in Ohio and have spread throughout 38 states. Let’s know about Kroger’s Competitors.
Some of the most notable Kroger competitors
- Target
- Walmart
- Amazon
- Costco
Target
Target is a general merchandise retailer started in 1902. The company’s main focus is consumer products and services, health and beauty products as well as furniture items. Their headquarters are in Minneapolis, but they have stores located in over six states.
Walmart
This is a retailing company founded in 1962 and operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores all over the US. It is headquartered in Bentonville and has extensive stores in over 12 countries, with about 10,000 stores in the US.
Amazon
Amazon is an American multinational e-company that specializes in e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Although its headquarters are in Seattle, the company has over 200 locations in about 36 countries around the world.
Costco
This is an American multinational corporation which runs a chain of membership-only retail and wholesale stores. Costco has about 804 store locations locally in the US and internationally, which includes Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
How do you determine the competition in business?
There are many factors to consider when assessing a business as a competitor. You look at their valuation, employee rating, financial aspects like revenue, cost of goods, gross profit and net income. The system of operation can also give much information like the distribution infrastructure, store locations, stores opened and closed as well as locations.
All these factors are expected to be different due to variables like the different target markets for each company. The trick is to assess the company/s that have the most number of similarities or are operating with a similar mission in mind.
General business factors
| Kroger | Target | Walmart | Amazon | Costco | |
| Locations | 21 locations in the US | 7 locations in the US | 18 locations in 24 countries | 235 locations in 36 countries | 21 locations in 11 countries |
| Employees | 465,000 | 409,000 | 2,300,000 | 1,468,000 | 156,000 |
| Employee rating | 3 | Not available | 3 | Not available | 4 |
| Valuation ($) | 33 B | 100 B | 380 B | 1.5 T | 200 B |
Financial factors as at 2020
| Estimated revenue ($) | 132 B | 93 B | 550 B | 380 B | 195 B |
| Cost of goods | 101 B | 66 B | 420 B | 230 B | 170 B |
| Gross profit | 30 B | 27 B | 138 B | 152 B | 25 B |
| Net income | 2 B | 4 B | 13 B | 21 B | 5 B |
Kroger SWOT analysis
- Strengths
- Kroger owns significant market share in 49 markets which are located across 35 states including D.C.
- Their geographical distribution helps them increase sales by expanding target market
- They have a greater focus on customer service unlike some of its major competitors like Walmart and Target
- They also own valuable private label businesses that produce niche products such as plant-based cleaning products and meatless burger patties
- Weaknesses
- Kroger is in the food manufacturing business which we all know is risky especially when it comes to distribution and its logistics. Food contamination can seriously damage a company’s reputation which in turn reduces profits
- Kroger does not have the necessary technology to invest in the online grocery business and compete with amazon in that space.
- Opportunities
- When it comes to delivery, Kroger has increased its customer experience with over 1,200 pickup locations and over 2,000 delivery locations
- They have introduced home chef meals that are fully cooked and ready in minutes
- Kroger is seizing the opportunity to get rid of plastic waste by changing their packaging reusable glass or metal containers which once used are retrieved through a free at-home pickup, cleaned, refilled, and reused.
- Threats
- Inflation is a huge threat because it causes the price of food, goods, and transportation to increase and cost-cautious consumers will look for alternatives other than higher margin gourmet food.
What is Kroger’s competitive advantage?
To remain effective and sustainable in the market, Kroger doesn’t just focus on keeping the prices low compared to their competitors but really looks at the customer experience. What is the shopping experience of the customer? How long are they in line? How do they get treated by associates and staff? All the things that are equally important in making sure customers come back to their stores.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of company is Kroger?
It’s a supermarket that owns and operates many grocery retail stores, convenience stores, food production places and pharmacies too.
Who are Kroger’s market peers?
Target, Costco, Walmart and Amazon are the companies that compare to Kroger.
