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CELEB CHEFS COME TO THE FREEZER AISLE

While exclusive celebrity brands are common in the apparel and home goods departments, Walmart is bringing them to the freezer aisle in an effort to drive store visits. The chain recently debuted eight meals from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, including his famed fish and chips. Now it’s adding Guy Fieri’s Flavortown lineup.

“You can now get a Sweet & Sour Pork Bowl, Pepperoni Pizza Lasagna, Chicken Enchilada Bowl or Sloppy Guy Mac & Cheese at Walmarts around the country,” reports Snackolator, which was the first to break the news. The micro- wave-ready meals retail for less than $6 apiece.

TRADER JOE’S IS MOST INNOVATIVE GROCER

For the second consecutive year, Trader Joe’s tops the list of America’s most innovative supermarkets. Compiled by Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, Rockbridge Associates and the Norwegian School of Economics, the American Innovation Index ranks companies based on consumers’ perception of their innovativeness. Toyota grabbed the No. 1 spot overall, while Trader Joe’s was No. 4. The only other food retailer among the top 10 was Costco.

In the supermarket sector, however, Trader Joe’s is followed by Whole Foods Market, Aldi, Publix Super Markets and Kroger. The diversity of the top finishers underscores the various forms innovation can take, with differentiation as the common denominator.

VALUE BRANDS GREW FASTEST

New research from Numerator reveals that household penetration of Kroger’s opening price point Smart Way lineup jumped 4.5 percentage points during Q2, making it the fastest-growing own brand in the country. The private label was introduced last September after the chain consolidated 17 different brands into just two. Amazon Basics (+1.5 points) and Aldi (+1.4 points) were second and third fastest-growing, respectively, highlighting growing demand for low-priced value brands.

However, Walmart’s private brands remain most popular, registering the five highest household penetrations: Great Value (72%), Equate (53.1%), Marketside (46.8%), Freshness Guaranteed (41.4%) and Walmart (32.7%). Dollar Tree was sixth, followed by Costco’s Kirkland Signature, Kroger, Aldi, Members Mark (Sam’s Club) and Dollar General’s Clover Valley.

WALMART’S E-GROCERY SHARE HITS RECORD HIGH

Walmart captured 35.5% of all U.S. e-grocery sales in Q2, up more than 5 percentage points from a year ago and its highest share to date, according to a new report from Brick Meets Click and Mercatus. The chain’s e-grocery share first eclipsed super- markets’ share in Q3 2022 when food-at-home price inflation peaked — but the gap has widened since then to 5.7 percentage points. Much of Walmart’s share increase was driven by grocery pickup, which represents 48% of its online sales — almost 2 percentage points more than last year.

Citing a “flight to value,” Brick Meets Click partner David Bishop says, “It’s vital for grocers to offer customers more ways to save money while also providing the experience that online shoppers expect, as cost considerations will weigh more heavily than convenience…in the second half of this year.”

‘POISON BREAD SANDWICH’ ANYONE?

A New Zealand supermarket’s new AI meal planner app is generating some pretty unusual recipes. Advertised as a way for cash-strapped shoppers to use up leftovers, Pak ‘n’ Save’s new Savey Meal-bot asks consumers to input available ingredients before auto-generating recipe options and cheery commentary. The app initially generated social media buzz when it spit out recipes for meals such as “Oreo vegetable stir fry.” But things took a deadly turn when shoppers started listing other household products as ingredients. Among the recipes auto-generated recently: ant poison and glue sandwiches, turpentine-flavored French toast, a bleach mocktail, and an “aromatic water mix” that is, in fact, chlorine gas.

FROZEN FRIES TOP TWO LISTS

During the 12 weeks ended July, only one top 20 frozen subcategory (in dollars) was also listed among the 20 fastest-growing. No. 14 fries registered the fourth-highest gain (+32.6% to $488.24 million) during the period, according to Chicago-based market research firm Circana. However, units were down 1.7% — still better than the department’s 4.1% unit loss.