Surveying supermarkets’ ever-changing landscape

Food shopping has undergone a revolution as consumers demand local produce, organic choices, low prices and more convenience, according to Consumer Reports.

To respond to our evolving food-shopping tastes, supermarkets are offering novel formats, products and services. Consumer Reports offers this overview:

Smaller footprints

Rather than taking a one-store-fits-all approach, some grocers are hyper targeting a single customer type and scaling back in size as a result. Those new locations offer a more ”curated” experience — say, selling just a few choices of organic olive oil instead of many — saving shoppers the work of distinguishing among brands.

To attract time-pressed millennials, Whole Foods has opened new Whole Foods Market 365 stores in four U.S. locations. The smaller-format stores feature primarily Whole Foods’ 365 Everyday Value products. Focusing on the higher-profit store brand and managing fewer square feet could also help the company’s profit margins, notes Asit Sharma, senior consumer goods analyst at the investing website Motley Fool.

Aldi is a fast-growing, nofrills vendor that operates stores about one-third the size of a typical American grocer. It sells a limited selection, mainly of private-label goods; Consumer Reports’ readers rated it highly for competitive prices.

Local farm partnerships

Many supermarkets have added locally grown produce sections. Dierbergs, which debuts in Consumer Reports’ ratings this year, is one example. The family-owned chain, with locations mainly in Missouri, shows a photo gallery of local partner farms on its website. Readers gave the quality of Dierbergs’ local produce top marks.

Meal kits without the wait

To compete with online meal-kit vendors, Giant Food Stores, based in Pennsylvania, offers fresh meal kits through its partnership with the Peapod grocery delivery service. Each $15 box comes with enough premeasured, fresh ingredients to make two servings following a provided recipe.

Home delivery

Responding to the threat from online grocers, many chains now offer this amenity. Safeway charges $13 to deliver orders of less than $150 and $10 for orders of $150 or more. Kroger and Wal-Mart have begun testing door-to-door delivery in certain locations, with WalMart using the delivery service Deliv and car services Lyft and Uber. Publix is testing home delivery in certain areas of the Southeast.

To learn more, visit ConsumerReports.org.