It’s Super Two’s-day (2/2/22 and an actual Tuesday), and here are the top stories we are talking about at RetailWit HQ…
Family Dollar to close 400+ stores because of rats
This is kind of your worst nightmare when you think of these massive warehouses and all of the products, food items and clothing that was stored there. It’s safe to guess this infestation is not as cute as our featured image, but we just couldn’t stomach any real pictures of rats…so maybe we can just pretend? Family Dollar is doing all the right things now (too little, too late), but this is going to be a real image problem for a long time.
The New York Times reports that Family Dollar had to temporarily close “more than 400 stores after the discovery of a rodent infestation and other unsanitary conditions at a distribution center in Arkansas touched off a far-reaching recall of food, dietary supplements, cosmetics and other products.
“A recent Food and Drug Administration inspection of the facility, in West Memphis, Arkansas, found live and dead rodents ‘in various states of decay,’ rodent droppings, evidence of gnawing and nesting, and products stored in conditions that did not protect against these unsanitary conditions, the agency said in a statement Friday.
There is a recall that covers products that were stored at the distribution center from the beginning of 2021 to the present.
Aldi ranked worst for online order substitutions
While this story is based on data from the UK, it certainly has relevance for shoppers everywhere. The online substitution process is difficult for retailers to manage and can be a tough experience for shoppers. Getting this right for your shoppers, and more importantly for the end consumers, has never been more scrutinized than it is now.
The consumer group asked over 1,300 shoppers whether they had received a substitution with their latest grocery order, covering nine retailers. It found that overall, two in five had received a replacement item.
Aldi, which has a Click and Collect service and was also recently named by Which? as the UK’s cheapest supermarket, was, by a narrow margin, the most likely of the nine retailers to put substitutions in customer orders, with 49% of its customers saying they had received a replacement item in their most recent shop.
Amazon Fresh customers were amongst the least likely to receive a substitution, with 26% of shoppers affected.
Ele Clark, Which? Retail Editor, says: “While product substitutions in your online shopping can sometimes be genuinely helpful, our research has shown that they can also be downright ridiculous.”
“You do have the right to reject substitutions at the point of delivery, or you could opt out of receiving substitutions altogether – though this can result in a real headache if the key ingredient for your dinner that night is missing.”
Walmart continues to up their fashion game
Coming off a fantastic quarter and a great year, Walmart keeps pushing to “premiumize” their product offerings. They called out apparel as a key category for growth, and here they are continuing to increase their product selection and offerings. Other retailers have taken note, but it’s going to be hard to stop the retail freight train that is Walmart.
Walmart is debuting the first spring collections from Brandon Maxwell, the fashion designer it hired as creative director for two of its elevated apparel brands, Free Assembly and Scoop. The new clothing and accessories collections are part of an effort by Walmart to become a destination for affordable fashion — not just the purveyor of socks, T-shirts and other basics.
Aldi unveils pizza vending machine
Every time I think we are running out of things to get out of a vending machine, someone comes out of nowhere with something new. Too bad it’s only in Australia for now, hoping it is successful so we can see it here in the U.S.
Aldi has launched a robotic vending machine called a “Pizzabot” which serves up restaurant-style pizza at its store in North Sydney. The vending machine is a new concept for the discount supermarket and claims to serve fresh pizza in under two minutes, with prices starting from $8.99.
The Pizzabot was designed in collaboration with Placer Robotics and is the first pizza vending machine to be manufactured in Australia. The technology is available exclusively in North Sydney’s store as part of a trial, for a limited time.
The pizza maker has the capacity to cook 450 pizzas per day, or about 17 pizzas per hour and features a glass exterior so customers can see the food being cooked and packaged.
