We’ve used ConsumerBase to gather and analyze consumer opinion in order to publish netnographies on five large supermarket chains: Kroger, Publix, Safeway, Trader Joe’s, and Wegmans. This post combines findings from all five netnographies into a meta-analysis of the supermarket business that provides a short description of an “ideal supermarket” from the point of view of the consumer. Three prevalent themes appear in all the supermarket netnographies: store brands, price and selection. Consumers’ opinions in these three areas basically determine [...]

I hear from NetBase customers that although Twitter is all the rage, and blogs have been around since the early 2000s, it’s in forums—the Internet equivalent of the old message board—where one gets the most transparency into people’s lives. Why do people join a forum? I think it’s because the topic is deeply relevant to their life. A parent joins a parenting forum to share experiences and learn from other parents. Someone who has just come down with a disease [...]

Founded in 1985, California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) is a leading casual dining chain featuring hearth-baked pizzas, including the original BBQ Chicken Pizza, and a broad selection of pastas, salads, appetizers, soups, sandwiches and desserts. CPK premium pizzas are also available to sports and entertainment fans at three Southern California venues including Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium of Anaheim and STAPLES Center. The company also has a licensing arrangement with Nestle S.A. to manufacture and distribute a line of California Pizza Kitchen [...]

Did you know that the dreaded diet does not keep the pounds off unless used in conjunction with the gym and a little bit (ok, a lot) of sweat??? In keeping with this month’s theme of weight loss and calorie counting (see below for my last blog post on online consumers’ favorite diets), I thought it might be interesting to see which fitness center online consumers turn to and love. In a previous life, I was a loyal, iron-pumping member [...]

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a 77-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. The family-owned company, founded in 1916, employs over 41,000 people, had 2010 sales of $5.6 billion, and is one of the largest private companies in the U.S. Wegmans has been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by FORTUNE magazine for fourteen consecutive years. In 2011, Wegmans ranked number three on the list. Positive Themes Praise for [...]

One of the things that we pride ConsumerBase on doing really well is understanding passion expressed by online consumers, which is why I’ve found this online discussion surrounding brands changing their logos so fascinating. The reactions evoked in online consumers by the changes to Gap’s iconic logo were so deeply passionate that the overwhelming response altered Gap’s entire design strategy, reverting back to the original logo in a matter of days. When it came to Starbucks, though, the chatter was [...]

Since beginning my career as a marketer, my philosophy has always been to take an educational approach. Thanks to Joel Rubinson and his new MBA class at NYU Stern School of Business, “Social media for brand managers”, we have been given the unique opportunity to step into the classroom and literally educate future brand management professionals. In this new class, which Joel details in his latest blog post, graduate students will grapple with the marketing implications of social media through [...]

Trader Joe’s is a privately held chain of specialty grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. As of December 2010, Trader Joe’s had a total of 353 stores. Approximately half of its stores are in California, with the heaviest concentration in Southern California, but the company also has locations in 27 other states and Washington, D.C. Trader Joe’s was founded by Joe Coulombe and has been owned since 1979 by a family trust set up by the late German businessman Theo [...]

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Kroger is the nation’s largest traditional grocery retailer, employing more than 334,000 associates who serve customers in 2,461 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states. The company operates under two dozen local banner names, including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s. Kroger also operates 784 convenience stores, 375 fine jewelry stores, 954 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S. Positive [...]

Safeway began in 1915 as a Skaggs store, owned by M.B. Skaggs, in American Falls, Idaho. In 1926, the company merged with 322 Safeway (formerly Selig) stores. In the 1930s, Safeway introduced produce pricing by the pound, dating on perishables to assure freshness, nutritional labeling, even some of the first parking lots. Today there are 1,702 Safeway stores across the U.S. and Canada, including 312 Vons stores in Southern California and Nevada, 112 Randalls and Tom Thumb stores in Texas, [...]