It doesn't seem that long ago when professionals within the food industry were debating whether or not Walmart would be successful selling groceries. We all know how that worked out, and today retailers of all shapes and sizes use consumer packaged goods to drive more frequent shopping trips to stores while exposing customers to other items carrying higher rings and penny profits.
Now comes news that Kroger, a company best known for its grocery business, is testing apparel sales at one of its Marketplace format stores in Mansfield, OH. While the store will be the first carrying a Kroger banner to offer a broad selection of clothing, it is not the first company-owned location in the business. Kroger's Fred Meyer format sells clothing and numerous other non-grocery categories in its stores.
"Selling food and clothing proved to be successful in Portland, Oregon. We are testing the concept to see if it will fare well here in the Midwest," Jackie Siekmann, a Kroger spokesperson, told the Mansfield News Journal. "We want the clothing, as well as a limited hardware and automotive section, to make Kroger's a destination store for our customers."
The move to offer clothing raises the question of whether Kroger will be lose focus should it expand the test to a large number of stores.
"It's a broad and bold experiment, and I think anything Kroger can do to capture more of the household spend across multiple categories is really critical," Thom Blishok, chief retail strategist at Booz & Co., told The Community Press & Recorder.
Clothing will occupy about 4,800 square-feet of space in the Marketplace store and will sell brands including Carhartt, Carter, Hanes, Levi-Strauss, Maidenform, Skechers and more. Kroger cut bath products, home decor items and and promotional furniture to free up space.