Top Grocers Ready to Compete

Article Excerpt

Consumers today generally have more money to spend, but less time to shop. Consequently, demand for ready-to-eat convenience foods has shot up. But consumers are also paying more attention to food safety and nutritional content. They are also developing an appetite and a budget for a wider variety of higher quality, more expensive foods. These trends have forced Canada’s major food retailers to invest heavily in new products and stores. Increasing competition from drug stores has also put pressure on traditional grocery stores. Perhaps the biggest threat to Canadian food retailers comes from U.S.-based Wal-Mart, which plans to open up full grocery stores adjacent to some of its current Canadian locations. However, the Canadian food industry is less fragmented than in the United States, and has more discount retailers. Wal-Mart owes some of its success to the weakness of the competition in many U.S. areas. It could have a tough time building market share here. Loblaw and Sobeys will survive this challenge. However,…