September / October 2015

When analysts at BMO Capital Markets notedrecently that Costco might now be the biggest retailer of organic groceries in the U.S. by sales volume, it was an acknowledgement of a couple of realities. One was the explosive growth of club stores in general, and Costco in particular.

It's said that trying to be all things to all people is a losing strategy. But looking at H-E-B can leave you not so sure. The 373-store Texas-based supermarket chain combines a luxurious in-store experience with competitive prices.

Dollar General is about to lose its position at the top of the dollar-store world, thanks to an acquisition between its two biggest rivals.

The middle of the road is where you get run over–so the cliché goes. Well, Kroger has been roaring down the middle of the road for years, setting speed records and bowling over the competition.

When you're the new kid in town,it doesn't matter how big a deal you were back home. You have to prove yourself all over again. That's the situation Wawa Inc. put itself in when it decided to leapfrog down the Eastern Seaboard, moving from its base in Pennsylvania and the Northeast into Florida.

Walmart knows a thing or two about leveraging assets.The giant retailer has squared up against online competition with a robust online presence of its own, bolstered by its massive network of brick-and-mortar stores and distribution centers.

What's a successful collaboration worth to retailers and brands? The value of working together for a greater outcome than either participant could achieve on its own might not be a line item on a balance sheet, but success stories abound in the grocery retail space. Consider Blackhawk Network, the

Aldi is looking to do in the U.S. what it has done in Great Britain for years:Squeeze midmarket grocers from the bottom. The German discount chain has ambitious plans to expand in the U.S.

Last year, CVS Health took a bold stand for its customers' health by banning tobacco sales. That's turning out to be healthy for the bottom line as well. In CVS's first full quarter after it stopped selling tobacco, net revenues increased 12.9 percent to a record $37.1 billion.

These are the drivers that reportedly will move the CPG retail industry into a brave new world that we can only imagine today.

Ethical and moral values can resonate with voters. Thankfully, a presidential election only comes around once every four years, so the arduous task of sizing up a politician's values is an infrequent occurrence. But while elections end, the notion of life values never does.