Kroger Company Essay

Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) was founded in 1883 by Bernard Kroger and is one of the largest grocery retailers, and the second largest private employer in the United States. Headquartered in Cincinatti, Ohio, The Kroger Company employs over 443, 000 employees in the United States [1]. Since their founding in 1883, on Bernard's initial investment of $372, Kroger Company has expanded to over 2,800 locations and possesses annual revenues of over 115 billion dollars [1]. By 1902, after a period of remarkable growth, Kroger Company had increased their annual sales revenue to over $1,750,000 from 40 locations. In order to better position the company for long term growth, the Kroger Company leveraged their unique business model and profitability to purchase

However, even though the organization stands strong today, Kroger Company continually faces both internal challenges and external threats. Additionally, technological advancements continually disrupt the marketplace as consumer purchasing channels transition to an online marketplace. In order to remain competitive and continue being a dominant player in the retail grocery industry, Kroger Company will need to continually evolve their sales and marketing, supply chain, and IT

Kroger is expanding into a well-developed physical and digital combined presence to remain a dominant player in the food industry. The value creation offered by Kroger is high and sweeping; it includes job creation, digital experiences, human capital investments, and data-driven decision making. According to Kroger's 2016 Annual Report, in 2015 alone the organization created over 12,000 new jobs in the U.S. What Kroger invested in health care, retirement benefits, and training in 2016 alone was over $15 billion dollars. In addition, Kroger is notable for their use of deep customer insights for analytic purposes [12]. A recent Economist article shares that data is the most valuable resource on the planet, surpassing oil, in which case Kroger has taken advantage of a vital aspect of the grocer industry [39]. Some may be surprised to discover that Kroger operates 784 convenience stores, 319 fine jewelry stores, and an online retailer as well [16]. The wide lineup of store formats and products is essential in diversifying income at the Kroger company, making them a strong, savvy giant within the grocery industry. Kroger has a robust private label portfolio under several tiered name-brands, which helped enable 12