Walmart Pushes Forward With Produce 2.0 Program
BENTONVILLE, AR - The mega-retailer is tackling the rising interest of fresh food head-on by revamping its merchandising techniques under the guise of “Produce 2.0.” The progress in fresh food lately has been a major element in the retailer’s recent U.S. sales momentum, but Steve Bratspies, Walmart’s U.S. Chief Merchandising Officer, believes that Walmart can achieve more.
“We think there’s a lot of opportunity in front of us,” Bratspies said, “and we don’t think we’re as good as we need to be.”
Although specific details remain scarce, the retailer plans to inform its store managers about the initiative at a meeting in Indianapolis later this month. During the Barclays Global Consumer Conference interview in New York, Bratspies states Walmart is focusing on thinking “holistically and thought about how do we start resourcing all the way through the register in our store and, quite frankly, into the customer's home, so they have a greater, longer freshness for their produce.”
“You never actually get there and there’s always things you can do to improve, and we’re continuing to work on all those things,” he said. “But we’re starting to see some momentum in the business. We like where we are and working that with Produce 2.0, which we’re going to talk to our managers about. We’re going to go even further.”
Along with improving the fresh selection of produce that Walmart offers, Bratspies also mentions plans on improving Walmart’s selection of private label items as well.
“All the things that a traditional branded manufacturer does, we built that capability in-house, and it’s made a huge difference in our ability to go to market, and the customers are responding to it,” Bratspies said. "They’re choosing it more and more.”
With these initiatives, Walmart not only takes consumers into consideration, but retailers and suppliers as well, as Bratspies further elaborated with Retail Link.
Bratspies concludes by stating, “we see customers of all demographics continuing to grow with us as we launch things like online grocery, as we build private brands, as we improve our fresh business.”
For more developments with big name retailers in the industry, keep reading ANUK.
