2024's Retailer of the Year Battle: Walmart vs. Publix vs. Sprouts
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton, Anne Mezzenga, along with guest hosts from the Alvarez & Marsal Consumer and Retail Group David Ritter and Chad Lusk discuss 2024’s Retail Awards. In this short, they debate 2024's top retail performers, from Publix's impressive 49% earnings increase and regional expansion to Walmart's successful transformation attracting higher-income customers. Learn why Sprouts' small-format strategy and potential for growth earned them consideration alongside traditional powerhouses.
An in-depth analysis of the year's most successful retailers and their winning strategies.
Key Moments:
0:03 - Introduction to Retailer of the Year nominees
0:15 - Publix's impressive performance metrics and expansion
0:54 - Discussion of Publix's market penetration
1:18 - Introduction of Hermès as luxury contender
2:54 - Walmart's successful transformation story
3:39 - Analysis of Walmart's key initiatives
4:40 - Sprouts' remarkable growth and strategy
5:06 - Discussion of future growth potential
#retail #walmart #retailtrends
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/iyNND1vZe7A
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcript
Retailer of the year, David.
Speaker A: David Ritter, who was your: Speaker B:Drumroll, please.
Speaker B:So I think what all the rest of you are going to say is Walmart and Costco, and I want it to be interesting, so I'm going to pivot and I'm going to say Publix Supermarkets.
Speaker C:Whoa, dark horse.
Speaker C:What?
Speaker B:In a world where grocery has just been a bit in upheaval with the Kroger Albertsons deal, Publix has put their heads down and really just focused.
Speaker B:They achieved a 49% increase in net earnings.
Speaker B:They reached $4.3 billion in sales.
Speaker B:They are rocking a 24% market share in the areas where they operate.
Speaker B: new stores in: Speaker B:So they're thought of as the southeastern grocery magnet, but they're expanding beyond it.
Speaker B:And it's not just the subs and the sandwiches they're rocking.
Speaker B:So they're my vote for this year.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:They kicked, and they kicked Kroger's digital play out of the state too.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's a good pick.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:All right, Chad, who is your pick?
Speaker A:You seem to be very appreciative of that choice by David there.
Speaker A:I saw you.
Speaker A:All right, here we go.
Speaker A:You've got the envelope.
Speaker D:If I were voting, I love the grocery space.
Speaker D:I really like that call and what they've done to stave off a lot of competitive threats in the Southeast.
Speaker D:So wonderful play on that one.
Speaker A:Gotta be like Carson, too.
Speaker A:Remember Carson when he put the envelope.
Speaker D:Yes, exactly.
Speaker D:Oh, you know, I'll say so before I read this.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:You do have to remember that David Brown is our resident kind of luxury apparel fashion beauty expert.
Speaker D:So I have a feeling that things are going to slant in that direction.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So first off the bat here for retailer of the year, we have.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker D:So here's.
Speaker D:Here's what I'd say to supplement his choice.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So first, you know, first choice in my closet, obviously, for my fashion get up today.
Speaker D:But you know, Dave mentioned kind of grocery a segment and upheaval like certainly here.
Speaker D:This is really one of the very few luxury fashion brands and players doing well.
Speaker D:You know, they have a nice secret sauce if they understand luxury, differentiation, personalization, customer intimacy in a way, you know, way more than kind of max, max luxury players like LVMH and others are.
Speaker D:Are kind of doing.
Speaker D:So I talk about a dark horse, but yeah, David coming in with French luxury.
Speaker A:Yeah, the luxury of the luxury.
Speaker A:Okay, wow.
Speaker A:We've got some two very different picks here so far.
Speaker A:And where are you going to go this year?
Speaker C:I had to give it to Walmart this year.
Speaker A:You did?
Speaker C:I did talk.
Speaker C:I think, I think the real tipping point for me, Chris was when we signed up for our Walmart plus membership and I started to see firsthand the value that a retailer that I, I didn't, I wasn't really, it wasn't my go to before, but the value that it's bringing to my life and how much has changed it personally.
Speaker C:And then all of the headlines, obviously them bringing in a higher income demographic.
Speaker C:They did the fashion reboot this year.
Speaker C:They've got scoop New York and all the stuff they did for New York Fashion Week.
Speaker C:They were first on the scene with Gen Search, the first big retailer on the scene back in, in January.
Speaker C:Launching that you got the merging supply chains with Sam's Club this year, the StockX partnership, increasing salaries for store managers to $400,000 a year.
Speaker C:Commerce Technologies, that whole division and the store assist they're doing.
Speaker C:Plus like gotta love the Busta Rhymes creative this holiday.
Speaker C:If anybody hasn't seen it already.
Speaker C:I highly encourage you to watch anything on your streaming services because you'll see that commercial about a billion times.
Speaker C:But I, I just think there's so much that Walmart has done this year to just totally launch it off and be even more of a household name than they already were for people.
Speaker C:So Walmart hands down, gotta give it to him.
Speaker A:Walmart wins it, huh?
Speaker A:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker C:Where do you, what about you?
Speaker A:Like what do I think?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So I think all three.
Speaker A:I thought this was the toughest year that we've ever done this show to hand out the retailer of the year.
Speaker A:Like I thought you could give it to Abercrombie, you could give it to Walmart.
Speaker A:Tractor Supply could be in the mix.
Speaker A:Even Dick's Sporting Goods and Dave mentioned Costco too.
Speaker A:But for me, actually my winner is Sprouts.
Speaker A:Sprouts stock price was $48 at the beginning of the year.
Speaker A:It peaked at 155.
Speaker A:Now stands at 147.
Speaker A:They've doubled down on their smaller, more productive format.
Speaker A:I think opening.
Speaker A:I think they opened 35 new stores and we got to see one of those smaller stores when we toured, toured their stores in Phoenix with their real estate team, man, and we were really impressed with that.
Speaker C:It was unreal.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And the other crazy thing about Sprouts is they're only in 24 states.
Speaker A:So Jack Sinclair and his very strong leadership team, both on the merchandising and the real estate side, can take this small format prototype and put it in a lot more places.
Speaker A:So I think the growth here is still.
Speaker A:There's still a lot more to come.
Speaker A:So that's why they get my vote this year as the retailer of the year.
Speaker A:Sprouts.
Speaker A:Congrats.
Speaker A:Sprouts.
Speaker C:That's a great pick, Chris.
Speaker C:You're totally right.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I mean, Sprouts, like, when you look at, we talked about last week, tractor supplies, you know, total addressable market here in rural communities.
Speaker C:Sprouts has so much further to go, too, so I love that pick.
Speaker A:Well done.
Speaker A:Just been dropping the ball, too.
