Food and beverage companies are getting hooked on the sales growth in supercenters and club stores, and that requires some adjustments in manufacturing practices.
In a slow-growth industry, food processors can scarcely ignore mass merchandisers as their best bet to meet higher sales targets. Supermarkets, the historic volume leaders, are experiencing steady sales erosion, and forecasters predict their 53 percent share of the food market will slip below 40 percent by 2010. Club stores led the assault on grocery-store volume in the 1990s, and they are being joined by mass merchandisers' supercenter formats in taking greater share from conventional grocers.