Stock Info

So far this year Food Lion stock prices have risen 8.64%.  At the begining of this year stock prices were $65.69 and today's closing was $71.37.

Food Lion

I must say I chose Food Lion because I worked in the meat dept. while I was in college.  I have learned a lot of the company that I didn't know.  I really enjoyed learning about the strategy they used to compete against the giant Wal-Mart.  I also enjoyed learning how ABC studio's got the idea to smear Food Lions good name.  The fact that a labor union was behind the whole thing was very intriguing. 

This was my first ever bloged and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Food Lion Markets to Hispanic Population

Food Lion is pushing it's marketing campaign to attract more Hispanic shoppers.  With the Hispanic population growing 58% over the past decade now 1 in 8 Americans are Hispanic.  Food Lion is identifying stores and counties with significant Hispanic populations to market too.  Food Lion is doing this by using marketing adds on Hispanic radio stations, new papers and pamphlets.  They are also offering sale adds in Spanish and hiring Hispanic Americans to further promote the Hispanic friendly image.

Food Lion to Use Private Label to Hedge Price Increases

Food Lion prides itself on a high value private label.  Consumers began to buy private label more heavily at the beginning of the economic crisis as a result of having to trade down.  This increase in private label sales will help to off set suppliers price increases that are being discussed.  Food Lion's private brands can be used as a tool and an opportunity to help defend against price increases in other comparable products.  This will help the chain maintain it's image as a low cost provider. 

EDLP Is Helping Food Lions' Bottom Line

EDLP stands for Every Day Low Pricing and it's a strategy that promises consumers the lowest available price without coupon clipping, waiting for discount promotions, or comparison shopping.  This strategy also saves Food Lion the time and expense of periodic price markdowns and generates shopper loyalty.

 

Sales trends at Food Lion have improved since the chain began strengthening its emphasis on EDLP in the second quarter of this year.  The Food Lion executives believe price competitiveness is the key lever to accelerate revenue growth.

UFCW Conspiracy Against Food Lion

It has been surmised that the UFCW union had a hand in helping ABC's smear Food Lion's Image.  The UFCW has had a grudge with Food Lion ever since they had a union campaign that flopped.  The workers at Food Lion were making more in wages than the unionized workers under the UFCW.  The Food Lion employees didn't see the need to pay union dues.

This was an embarrassment for the union and beginning of a campaign to hurt Food Lion financially.  They wanted to punish Food Lion because it's employees refused to unionize.  They found their opportunity through  ABC studio's when they gave them an idea of a story that involved a supermarket chain selling spoiled meat.  They also supplied an on-camera interview pool consisting of seven persons.  These were employees that had stopped working at Food Lion but were actively suing the market chain with the help of UFCW.

The smear campaign hurt Food Lion and at the same time helped it's competitors that were unionized under the UFCW. This helped to strengthen the union and increase it's membership. 

Food Lion Scandal

Some of you may remember an ABC documentary about Food Lion serving it's customers spoiled food.  This smear campaign rocked the supermarket giant and devastated it's stock price.  The segment was grossly inaccurate and deceitful.  Five years after the story was first published a jury in NC awarded Food Lion punitive damages of $5.5 million dollars.