Albertson’s Fails to Perpetuate Seessel’s Reputation
There’s a very good reason that Albertson’s has pulled out of Memphis, Tenn., according to John Malmo, president of Koenig, Inc. Marketing Consulting.
Although Albertson’s paid a premium to get the Seessel’s name along with its stores, the investment was rendered worthless when it eliminated virtually everything that made the chain special.
Albertson’s closed the Seessel’s bakery and commissary operations and made major changes to the mix of merchandise. Eventually, Albertson’s complied with customer requests to restock many items that had been deleted. According to Mr. Malmo, that took too much time.
Upon adding gas station and dry cleaning services and coffee shops, Seessel’s customers were unimpressed. Albertson’s neither operated the Seessel’s brand consistent with its past nor worked to make the Albertson’s brand successful.
Albertson’s has left the building.
Moderator Comment: Is it possible for a large chain
to buy a smaller retailer without altering what made the business unique and
worth buying in the first place?
Albertson’s, Safeway Kroger and others have all bought
businesses claiming that they had no intention of altering the shopping experience
for consumers – NOT! [George Anderson – Moderator]