It\u2019s never a good sign when a company pulls its financial forecasts mid-turnaround.<\/p>\n
\n
But Albertsons did just that on Tuesday in the first clear sign of how deeply newly appointed executive chair Meg Whitman plans to overhaul the struggling grocery chain.<\/p>\n
Albertsons\u2014which, in addition to its namesake stores, operates another 21 chains including Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Tom Thumb, and Randalls\u2014said that net sales slipped to $18.9 billion in its second fiscal quarter, led by a 0.8% drop in identical sales, a metric that strips out newly closed or open stores. It was the second quarterly drop in a row, following shrinking growth in the preceding quarter.<\/p>\n
Albertsons CEO Susan Morris announced a plan in July called \u201cACI Edge,\u201d aimed at improving the company\u2019s competitiveness by reviewing its strategy, cost structure, operations, and portfolio of brands. On Tuesday, the company said it was pulling its financial forecasts until that review is over. That suggests that Albertsons may be eyeing a deeper turnaround than initially planned under Whitman, the longtime tech executive who joined Albertsons last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything should be on the table,\u201d Whitman told Wall Street analysts on Albertsons\u2019 quarterly conference call. \u201cDramatic improvement is needed now. Albertsons must move faster to change the trajectory of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like all grocers, Albertsons has been struggling with cash-strapped shoppers burdened by food inflation and higher gas prices cutting into their spending on nonessentials. But Albertsons also has a cost structure higher than that of its rivals, leaving less room to maneuver and shield consumers from higher prices than discount grocers like Walmart and Kroger or bulk operators like Sam\u2019s Club and Costco.<\/p>\n
While Whitman has no grocery experience and little retail experience (from her time as CEO of eBay), she was brought in by Albertsons for her turnaround chops and decisiveness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After taking the reins at Hewlett-Packard in 2011, she would go on to simplify the structure and product portfolio of a company that had been damaged by its acquisition of Autonomy Corp.; was doing strategy flip-flops; and had suffered from declining revenue and margins. She oversaw the split of the company into two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before that, she had been CEO of eBay, where she professionalized the management structure and operations of a hot tech startup, setting it up for a period of fast growth under her decade of management.<\/p>\n
The current period of food inflation has been particularly bruising for Albertsons. Its lower-income customers are trading down to less expensive items and store brands, which either pinches Albertsons\u2019 margins or sends shoppers to Walmart and Kroger. \u201cThe reality right now is that the economy is tough for many of our customers,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n
But Albertsons\u2019 sprawling empire of store chains has led to complex operations and the higher costs that come with them, making it harder to be more flexible on pricing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Calling Albertsons\u2019 prices \u201cridiculously high compared to rivals,\u201d GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders said that would \u201cbe partly justifiable if other dimensions\u2014store experience, service, private label, and so forth\u2014were above par, but they\u2019re not.\u201d To remedy that, he added, Albertsons would need to \u201cinvest in prices\u201d\u2014retail speak for \u201clower them.\u201d And that in turn adds pressure to find cost savings.<\/p>\n
Whitman\u2019s comments to analysts suggest there will be no sacred cows under her aegis. She hinted that Albertsons could shed some brands through \u201cpotential strategic actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morris became CEO in 2025 after the collapse a few months earlier of the planned $24 billion Albertsons and Kroger merger was followed by the exit of both companies\u2019 chiefs. (Albertsons is currently suing Kroger for $9 billion over the failure of the merger.) She had been operations chief for seven years.<\/p>\n
Before Whitman\u2019s appointment, Morris had already made some moves to make Albertsons more flexible, including lowering the number of operating regions to four from 11 to generate economies of scale and speed up decision-making. She also centralized much of Albertsons\u2019 merchandising decisions under one team.<\/p>\n
As executive chair rather than simply chair, Whitman\u2019s role is much more hands-on, acting as a close operations and strategic advisor to Morris and helping leadership sharpen strategy, improve execution, and act with celerity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company has greater potential than its results have reflected,\u201d Whitman said. \u201cBut dramatic improvement is needed now. I believe we will turn the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#eBay #CEO #plans #fix #Albertsons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s never a good sign when a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1113,283,1405,2222,1711,4715,1485],"class_list":["post-6681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-albertsons","tag-ceo","tag-chief-executive-officer-ceo","tag-corporate-turnaround","tag-ebay","tag-fix","tag-plans"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n