Giant Food stays on top of retail scene
Landover, Md.-based Giant Food Stores are king of the hill and likely to stay that way.
In fact, Shelby Market Data reports that in the region that includes Maryland; Washington, D.C.; northern Virginia; and Delaware (Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, California-Lexington Park, Charlottesville, Cumberland, Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, Winchester); Ahold Delhaize’s Giant Food Stores boasted 168 stores and commanded a market share of 26.75% in the second quarter of 2020.
Compared to 2018 numbers from Shelby, Giant Food Stores market share and store count were virtually unchanged.
The region is a competitive retail market with plenty of stores, said Tony Vitrano, president of the Jessup, Md.-based Tony Vitrano Co.
“The Baltimore/Washington market is a bit over-stored because you have pretty much everybody in this area, plus a fair amount of smaller regional chains,” he said.
“I think the smaller independents sometimes do well because they can be a little more flexible than some of the big chains,” he said.
Giant strides
Giant Food has been active in the e-commerce sector this year.
In late June, Giant Food announced a new integrated e-commerce shopping experience on giantfood.com and the Giant Food mobile app.
Through the platform, Giant Pickup and Giant Delivers services are available to more than 6 million shoppers in 330 zip codes across the District, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.
The integrated mobile app, according to a news release, joins together the prior Peapod.com and Giantfood.com sites to create a single site on Giantfood.com.
Visitors to the site can access personalized shopping and rewards program benefits, according to the release.
For prior Peapod users, there will be no interruption of service, as the release said all Peapod account information, orders and history transition to the new Giantfood.com site, according to the release.
Safeway strong
Safeway, owned by Albertsons since 2015, is the second-ranked retailer by market share in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., region.
Shelby Market Data reported that second quarter market share for Safeway’s 109 stores was 12.64%. That compares with 2018 numbers for Safeway’s then 126 stores of 12.4%, according to Shelby Market Data.
Early in 2020, NBCwashington.com, reported that Safeway’s grocery store distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., will close in August.
Operations will shift to a distribution center in Pennsylvania, which will add 300 new jobs, according to the report.
Wegmans
The market share for Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans’ 16 stores in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., market was rated at 8.04% in mid-2020. That is up from 2018 numbers of 14 stores and a 4.5% share, according to Shelby.
Wegmans earlier announced new store openings for the chain in the Baltimore/D.C. region in coming months include:
- Tysons Corner, Va. (late fall)
- Rockville, Md.
- Alexandria, Va.
- Washington, D.C.
Walmart
Walmart, in the second quarter of 2020, enjoyed a market share of 7.61% in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., market, with 102 stores, according to Shelby Market Data. That compares with a market share of 11.6% and 67 stores in 2018, according to Shelby.
According to data from M Science, grocery orders accounted for nearly 54% of Walmart’s online sales in the first quarter, up from about 46% in the first quarter last year.
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