The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.
With its revelation this week that it has tapped Ahold Delhaize USA’s top executive to serve as its next CEO, Dollar General did more than just announce that it will have a new leader. The giant discounter also telegraphed its intent to catapult itself into an even more prominent position in the U.S. grocery sector — a space where it already has a formidable presence, particularly in underserved areas.
In announcing JJ Fleeman’s appointment as CEO, which will take effect in January 2027, Dollar General made a point of highlighting its progress as a food retailer under current CEO Todd Vasos. Those accomplishments include launching the DG Fresh self-distribution project and bringing fresh produce to over 7,000 stores — an achievement that the company said in a recent promotional video gives it “more points of distribution than any other grocery retailer in the country.”
The company also credited Vasos with overseeing a “disciplined return to retail fundamentals,” adding that it expects Fleeman to use his three-plus decades of experience running food stores to accelerate Dollar General’s performance.
As the leader of Ahold Delhaize USA, Fleeman also navigated the expansion of a self-distribution system. And the company’s focus on improving stores and enhancing omnichannel shopping under Fleeman signals Dollar General is looking to boost the shopping experience at its stores.
Dollar General doesn’t run supermarkets, and even the largest of its nearly 21,000 locations carries only a fraction of the food selection available at the stores Fleeman oversees at Ahold Delhaize USA. But with Fleeman coming aboard, there’s little doubt the discounter is gearing up to raise its game in the grocery industry.
In case you missed it
Ocado calls the cops on a rival at German trade show
The U.K. grocer and technology company called German cops on Brightpick, a tech rival that Ocado alleges infringed one of its patents, The Grocer reported. Police, along with Ocado representatives, showed up as Brightpick prepared its display for LogiMAT, a trade show held in Stuttgart, Germany. Brightpick said it believes Ocado’s allegations are spurious, Logistics Matters reported.
Kroger’s loyalty program steps on the gas
The grocer announced Wednesday that it is hosting two weekend events — the first on March 27-29 and the second on April 3-5 — where loyalty program members will earn quadruple fuel points on eligible in-store or online purchases. Normally, customers earn one fuel point for every $1 spent.
While Kroger said that the events are happening at a time when “spring can bring added travel,” it also coincides with people feeling their wallets squeezed by rising fuel costs.
More states join UFCW’s dynamic pricing battle
State legislators from Minnesota, Georgia and Iowa signed onto the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union’s campaign to ban pricing or methods critics refer to as “surveillance pricing” to determine what they charge individual consumers for goods.
UFCW said this campaign comes as Walmart works on new technologies to enable algorithms to set prices and automatically change prices.
Impulse find
Hippity hoppity over to Natural Grocers
With Easter around the corner, Natural Grocers has some family fun in store. The grocer is hosting an Easter egg hunt at all of its locations on Saturday. Starting at 11 a.m., shoppers can search their local Natural Grocers store for 12 golden eggs for the chance to win a gift card worth up to $50.
Along with the Easter egg hunt, the specialty grocer has activities lined up for kids, including in-store crafting until 1 p.m. and a giveaway of free reusable tote bags to the first 100 children.
As part of promoting its Saturday festivities, Natural Grocers also noted that it will offer savings from March 28 to April 4 for loyalty program members, including 25% off wine and special pricing on select 100% USDA-certified organic produce, in a bid to incentivize customers to hop over for their Easter shopping.
