From Our Print Edition

Here are 10 questions — inspired by what securities analysts asked during recent conference calls — that you need to be asking yourself.

“If you don’t like the question being asked, just answer another one.”

I’ve forgotten which politician famously said that, but the advice also seems to apply to business executives who’ve been asked tough questions by stock analysts. This happens often on the conference calls I frequent, and it occurred to me that the questions can be more useful than the “answers.”

1. How much inflation are you seeing, and in what categories? Where have price gaps widened the most in the past two years, and what are your strategic plans for them?

2. Low-to-mid-income consumers may be hurting more as this year progresses, especially with inflation and the ending of stimulus payments. To what degree do you see this happening among specific income segments? How will that affect your product mix and pricing strategies?

3. In which categories are consumers trading up or trading down? How has their perception of your private label changed? How can you capitalize on these changes?

4. In which categories can you pass along price increases to shoppers? How are those decisions made and quantified? What about opportunities to roll back prices? Is this possible, even as just a statement to consumers?

5. How is your promotion evolving in the wake of the last two years? Do you adequately measure promotion profitability? Have you made promotional changes based on instinct or on key performance indicators?

6. Are you aspiring for a higher-income customer, while trimming back on cherry pickers and coupon-clippers? What are your strategies for this, and how were they developed? What are the risks and rewards of these strategies?

7. What are the long-term trends for grocery delivery? Given your expectations for efficiency and profitability over the long haul, should you invest in an in-house program, or farm it out to a third party?

8. What are you doing to improve your in-stock positions? What categories/departments need the most improvement? Why, in terms of both dollars and consumer reaction? What specific use are you making of key service level benchmarks, and what goals do you have for the next six months?

9. How thoroughly have you studied priorities on upcoming capital expenditures? Remodels, case displays, trucking equipment, etc.? Which ones will have the most impact on the consumer and your differentiation? 

10. What specific competitive responses are you seeing, based on changes you have made? For any planned changes, how are your competitors likely to react, and what will you do about it?