How Kmart Went Bankrupt

Kroger Supermarkets were started in 1883 by Barney Kroger in downtown Cincinnati. Mr. Kroger started his business with the motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.” Through the years Kroger has strived to uphold this motto to its customers and to provide great service, the freshest products and expansion to meet the needs of their customer base making it one of the world’s largest retailers. Kroger now has over 2,600 stores in 34 states with $108.5 billion in annual sales. Kroger operates 37 food processing facilities and Kroger was the first grocery retailer to use the electronic scanner.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Kroger Company is one of the largest supermarket retailers across the United States. Founded in 1883, Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open his first grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. (Kroger, 2011). Barney was quite proud. He was the first grocer ever to have a bakery, to sell meat, and to sell other groceries all in one store. From the start, Barney operated his business with a simple motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.” (Kroger, 2011). Today, one hundred and twenty-eight years later, the Kroger Company is still following Barney’s motto.

In the past, JCP had, on average, one price campaign every day. The stores were full of sale signs and retail rise was getting out of control. JCP partnered with numerous exclusive collaborations which was hoped to bring about an expansion for the firm. However, due to the economic slump, the oversaturation of the market, and an expected lack of quality in the goods from the consumer perspective, JCPenney’s success was degrading in contrast to its competitors. (Sloan, 2010).

In 1883, Bernard Kroger, who is Kroger Company’s owner, opened the Great Western Tea Company in Cincinnati when he was 22. In 1902, the company became Kroger Grocery and Baking Company after growing to 40 stores in different cities like Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. The company continued growing thorough buying smaller, cash-strapped companies. Moreover, in the late 1920s, the company gained Piggly Wiggly stores, and in early 1940s, the company bought most of the Piggly Wiggly stock. In 1929, the chain reached its greatest number of stores which is 5,575. The company continued buying other stores. After that, the company started opening bigger stores in 1971. In 1987, Kroger sold most of its interests in the Hook and SupeRx drug chains and started focusing on its food and drug stores. Furthermore, Kroger announced that it was purchasing around 75 store (mostly in Texas). Not only Kroger was buying food stores in Texas, but also in Virginia, Nebraska, and New Mexico, which happened around 2000 and 2001. In 2003, Kroger announced Naturally preferred, its own brad products which include baby food, pastas, cereal, snacks, milk, and soy products (Company History-Hoover’s, 2016).

The industry we have chosen is the department store-retail industry. Within this industry, we have chosen the department stores of JCPenney and Macy’s. We find this industry, as well as these two companies, interesting from a strategic perspective. JCPenney has recently undergone a massive strategic restructuring in regards to its pricing, brand offerings, and store layout, pushing it away from the typical department store strategy of discounts and coupons. Its new strategy has become much closer to Wal-Mart’s strategy of every day low prices. Macy’s, on the other hand, has restructured with a push from the economic

Macy's is one of the premier retailer franchises within the United States. To begin, Macy's Inc. is one of the nation's largest and well known department store chains. Started over 150 years ago, Macy's has continually generated excellent returns for its shareholders and employees. Currently, in the midst of a global recession, Macy's has generated huge profits with same store sales increasing 5.3% year to date. In 2012 same store sales increased 4.6% in the month of February alone (Macy's Inc., 2012). In fact, throughout the duration of 2012, Macy's is projecting even larger profits for its underlying business operations. Even though Macy's has experienced success with both its assortments and brand, its competitors haven't faired so well. Sears, due in part to part to a lackluster holiday season, has been forced to close nearly 120 locations to generate excess liquidity in an effort to shore up its balance sheet (Isadora, 2011).Other competitors who cater specifically to the middle class consumer have also lost significant amounts of market share as consumers trade down due to the economy. Macy's, with its ride array of assortments and products continues to grow as it attempts to capture market share from failing competitors. Macy's is also unique as it operates in a unique market

According to the Kroger business web page, in 1883 Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a grocery store at 66 Pearl in downtown Cincinnati. The son of a merchant, he ran his business with a simple motto: Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself. It is a motto that has served him well for the next 120 years. Today, Kroger has grown to 2500 stores with $70 billion revenues, 40 food processing plants ranging from bread, milk, soda pop, ice cream and peanut butter. Kroger operates under two dozen banners, has acquired warehouses, trucking companies, and has over 14,400 private-label items (The Kroger Co., 2012).

American retailer Kohl’s has become a prevalent fixture for the purchase of discounted clothing and home goods in the mid-west for over twenty-five years. The history of the company however has roots much more modest than present day market dominance would suggest. Dating back to a Wisconsin supermarket in 1946, founder Max Kohl grew his small business to the most successful chain of supermarkets in the Milwaukee area (12). By 1962 Kohl opened his first department store in Brookfield, Wisconsin where an eclectic selection of merchandise, from sporting goods, motor oil and candy, was sold (11). In 1972, the Kohl’s Company which by then consisted of 50 grocery stores, six department stores, three drug

In 1883 Bernard (Barney) Kroger invested 372 dollars that consisted of his life savings to open the first ‘Kroger’ grocery. That first store, located at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati, would soon turn into the giant retail chain that consists of nearly 2,500 stores all over the country and most recently produced sales of over 76 billion dollars. Barney Kroger was revolutionary in the formation of the modern grocery, in that he was the first grocer to have his own bakery, as well as selling meat and other groceries all under one roof. Kroger was also the first to manufacture the products that he in turn sold in his own store. This was the beginning of what is today one of the largest food manufacturing companies in America.

JC Penney had to undergo and withstand several competitive issues to include changing of brand image, selling strategy and marketing strategy. JC Penney also had to account for Environmental Factors to include: a population that continued to age and also unemployment rates. JC Penney tried to influence customers by portraying an everlasting sale. No matter how hard JC Penney tried to market their products, if people didn’t

Benny Kroger tried in many ways to satisfy customers by offering all that he could in one stop. He experimented with making his own products, such as bread, so that customers would not need to go to a separate bakery. Kroger was the first to use barcode scanners and even became the first grocery chain to offer samples and taste tests to their customers, and also the first to have a store surrounded on all four sides by parking lots. Benny Kroger was an innovator and a visionary in the customer satisfaction world.

that made the first Kroger store successful in 1883 – service, selection and value – continue to

The founder of Dunnes stores was Ben Dunne, he was also the chairman of the company. Dunne was originally from Co. Down but he moved to Drogheda, where he worked as an apprentice Cameron’s Drapery store in 1926[1]. He worked in two Cameron’s Drapery stores, the second one was in Longford. In the mid 1930’s he moved to Roche’s stores in cork, this is where he learned how to be a buyer. After learning to be a buyer, he founded his own store in cork, he called it Dunnes stores in 1944. Dunne was recognized as the ‘Most outstanding world retailer’, he was later elected to the board of directors in 1970.

If Wal-Mart needed a distribution center, they would build on in Florida, they would build one in Texas, and they would build one in California. Even without the additional warehouses, Wal-Mart had the advantage of better information systems. They knew what was selling and what was not selling in the stores whereas Kmart was just staying with the same-old, same-old, and did not bother to reinvest in its infrastructure logistics and inventory control.

In 1897 Sebastian Spering Kresge opened five-dime stores in Memphis and Detroit with John McCrorey as his partner. Two years later the partnership broke up and each person kept one city. Mr. Kresge kept the Detroit store and began expanding from there onward. In 1912 the company became incorporated as S.S. Kresge and was the 2nd largest dime store chain with 85 stores and annual sales of more than $10 million. In 1918 S.S Kresge was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Throughout the decades, Kresge rapidly expanded eventually opening the first Kmart store in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan. By 1966 there were more 160 Kmart stores in the US and Canada. In 1968 Kmart began airing TV commercials. In the 1970s, Kmart continued to expand