Can Publix Change With the Times?

¶ … organization's innovation strategy. Use publicly information, including Securities Exchanges Commission filings. Choose organization introducing products services. (You grocery store chain -- Publix. Changes at Publix: Pioneering a change innovation strategy in the grocery business The grocery store industry is at a crossroads. Consumers are demanding more choice and product options than ever before. However, it is increasingly difficult for a company to remain 'in the black' in the industry using a high-volume, low-profit margin sales approach.

Wal-Mart and many other big box stores like Costco are selling goods at equally low prices as major supermarket chains. Some grocery stores such as Whole Foods use a differentiation strategy to cope with this challenge. Whole Foods stocks organic, international, and other specialty items such as gluten-free products. Publix, in contrast, is part of a larger supermarket retail landscape with a relatively generic profile. This could prove to be troublesome in the future. "Today's newly frugal consumers are cranking up the pressure on retailers to innovate.

Margins in the $547.1 billion market averaged just 1.84% nationally in 2008, according to the Food Marketing Institute. Though an average grocery store has 46,852 items, the sector's big chains also stock pretty much the same brand-name goods" (Joseph 2009:1). However, Publix has managed to stay profitable through its unique innovation strategy. It is "both the largest employee-owned company and the most profitable grocer in America" and its equal focus on employees and upon customers has reaped substantial dividends for the retailer (Solomon 2013:1). To remain competitive, Publix has adapted a strategy of differentiation.

Even while its main stores are purveyors of a wide range of goods targeted at 'middle market' consumers, it has an eye on the expanding Hispanic market. "Publix's Sabor are examples of smaller, ethnic stores that cater to Latinos or immigrants from Asia and the Middle East. More employees are bilingual, too" (Joseph 2009:1).

There is also an attempt to capitalize upon the new focus on healthy eating and cooking at home spawned by the increasing concern about the American obesity crisis, for which fast food and packaged, convenience food is to blame. Publix has begun to showcase cooking classes at many of its stores, which is designed to attract customers to its locations and to promote its products but in a soft-sell, educational context.

It offers the Aprons cooking school at select locations as well as Aprons recipes on its website (Publix Aprons, 2014, Official website). "The Aprons chefs teach classes such as Grilling Fish 101 and A Vegetarian's Journey Through India -- all using ingredients found in the store, of course" (Troy 2011:1). As well as selling groceries, Publix also sells drugs and other personal care goods. It strives to innovate in these areas as well.

For example, "last fall the company introduced a new larger, triangular-shaped pill bottle that is designed to be easier to open" (Troy 2011:1). The bottle is still child-safe but much easier for arthritic hands to open. This shows Publix's desire to exhibit sensitivity to customer demands and to act in a responsive manner. Publix has expanded its wellness offerings by offering flu shots, other types of healthcare screening services, and a Type 2 diabetes management program (an increasingly common problem throughout the United States). It also offers free antibiotics.

Since Publix's major competitor Wal-Mart also has in-store pharmacies which offer various discount programs, remaining competitive in this arena is also essential, to ensure people do their 'one stop shopping' at Publix rather than Wal-Mart. In fact, because of its emphasis on service and cultivating good employee-customer relations, Publix is called the 'anti-Wal-Mart.' Rather than focusing solely on low prices, it also seeks to train employees to give exemplary, cheerful, and helpful advice to customers, ensuring that it is a pleasure to shop there.

According to its current CEO: "We believe that there are three ways to differentiate: service, quality and price…You've got to be good at two of them, and the best at one. We make service our number one, then quality and then price" (Troy 2013:1). Publix has some of the lowest turnover of workers in the industry, saving vast sums of money on constant retraining.

"All staffers who have put in 1,000 work hours and a year of employment receive an additional 8.5% of their total pay in the form of Publix stock" (Troy 2013:1). Publix exclusively promotes from.