Could you see in-store farms scaling across the country chain-wide for Kroger? What operational burdens might grocers have to consider before attempting this type of operation and how might it change relationships with produce suppliers?
Interactive Edge’s CEO, Zel Bianco comments, featured on RetailWire’s Braintrust :
At first glance, this seems like a good idea as good quality produce is the reason shoppers will make a farmer’s market a destination on a Saturday as opposed to completing their weekly shopping at the grocery store.
The issue here is that if retailers like Kroger and others start to adopt in-store produce operations, what happens to the local farmers who are currently supplying retailers? Their situation is already very fragile. Could in-store produce operations be the trend that threatens the local small farmer even more and could it possibly be the end of the small local farmer?
Read the entire article from RetailWire: