New initiatives should spur sales

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $69 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 388.1 million; Market cap: $26.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) operates 1,095 supermarkets in Canada. In March 2014, the company purchased Shoppers Drug Mart, which operates 1,330 drug stores across the country. On February 1, 2018, Loblaw will merge the PC Plus loyalty rewards plan at its supermarkets with the Optimum program at Shoppers. That combined plan will be called PC Optimum, and users will be able to collect and redeem the same points at either chain. Moving to a single loyalty program should cut Loblaw’s administrative costs. It will also make it easier to analyze customer spending data and spur repeat visits with specialized offers. The company also aims to drive sales with a home delivery service. It has teamed up with U.S.-based Instacart, which uses independent couriers to pick up goods at Loblaw’s stores and deliver them to customers’ homes…