Kroger is getting serious about beauty.
The grocer, whose family of stores includes Ralph’s, Fred Meyer and Smith’s Food and Drug, among other supermarket chains, is introducing a revamped beauty concept set to enter 30 U.S. stores by the end of this year.
The expansion, which is already live in one Smith’s store in Henderson, Nev., gives beauty and wellness a dedicated in-store space for the first time at Kroger, where these products have previously been merchandised aisle-by-aisle and not differentiated from the rest of the store.
“As the industry has changed, as competitors — Ulta, Sephora, even mass competitors — have elevated their game — as a food store, we’ve had strong success in beauty but we have not been keeping up with the market,” said Becky Diaz, vice president of health and beauty care at Kroger. “We recognized the opportunity…to provide our customer more of the discovery, the inspiration and browsing that they expect when shopping beauty.
“Convenience is still going to be one of the number-one things that drive why customers shop at Kroger, but giving them a different experience in beauty than when they’re shopping, obviously, canned food — that was our intention.”
