Pick ’n Save may get gas stations
Installations key to Kroger’s strategy
Gasoline stations would be added to Pick ’n Save supermarkets in Wisconsin under a strategy that chain owner Kroger Co. is beginning to put in play.
The effort will add a new twist for a grocery chain that long has been the marketshare leader here, but which has faced stiffening competition, especially in Milwaukee.
Now, the Roundy’s division of Kroger is asking Menomonee Falls for approval to install a fuel station at the Pick ’n Save store on Appleton Ave. near Lilly Road. The request is to go before the village plan commission Tuesday evening. Roundy’s also is seeking municipal approval for a fuel station at the Pick ’n Save in Stoughton.
Selling gasoline at supermarkets is a key part of Kroger’s approach to grocery retailing. As of January, 1,445 of the Cincinnati-based firm’s 2,796 supermarkets had fuel centers. The company sold $14 billion worth of fuel in 2016, accounting for about 12% of total revenue.
Kroger started selling gasoline at its supermarkets in late 1998.
The company generates business at the pump through a loyalty program that gives customers discounts based on their grocery purchases.
Kroger, which bought Roundy’s in 2015, operates supermarket fuel centers in all of its retail store divisions.
“Fuel stations are a go-to market strategy for Kroger and it is our intent to continue to pursue and develop a fuel program at select Pick ’n Save locations throughout Wisconsin,” Roundy’s spokesman James Hyland said by email.
Offering gasoline — at a discount to supermarket shoppers — is a smart move, said Rick Shea, president and owner of Shea Food Consultants, a suburban Minneapolis grocery and food marketing consultancy.
“It’s something that not only Kroger but a lot of grocery accounts, retailers are doing, because it’s a way to drive traffic to the location,” Shea said. “More and more they’re offering all sorts of services — obviously gasoline, banking, other types of restaurants in the stores. They’re really trying to make it more of a destination and then (have) the opportunity to cross sell them on groceries and other products. Certainly makes a lot of sense.”