Kroger answers your questions about the grocery business

An emphasis on understanding the customer — with the help of technology to gleam insights from over 17 million digital accounts held by shoppers — has helped The Kroger Co. fend off the competition in the region, the same market where the Fortune 500 grocery chain is headquartered.

That’s what this news outlet learned in a fall interview with Sukanya Madlinger, previously president of the Cincinnati/Dayton Division for the nation’s largest traditional grocery store chain. Madlinger is now senior vice president of retail divisions for the company.

“Through understanding our customer shopper insights, we can better anticipate what they’re looking for versus reacting to a trend,” Madlinger previously said.

Cincinnati-based Kroger employs more than 20,000 people at 109 supermarkets in Greater Cincinnati, Dayton and Springfield as part of its Cincinnati/Dayton Division.

After the story published last month, Kroger answered the following questions this newspaper received from readers about the business. Responses were provided by spokeswoman Patty Leesemann:

Q: Does Kroger accept Apple Pay or would the company consider it?

A: "We are watching with great interest as the mobile market continues to develop. We have no immediate plans for ApplePay."

Q: Could Kroger’s online shopping service expand to the company preparing grocery orders based on frequent purchases?

A: "Currently, when a customer logs in to online shop, it shows a customer's favorites (most frequently purchased items) as well as their most recent purchases. These features make it easy for customers to start a new order similar to jumpstarting your list. We continue to collect feedback from customers and make improvements and enhancements to our online shopping service."

Q: What does Kroger do with food waste at stores?

A: "Kroger has a program where we donate perishable product that can no longer be sold but is still safe and nutritious to eat. We donate produce, meat, some dairy and bakery goods to local food banks and pantries. This program is called our Perishable Donations Partnership (PDP) program. This is a companywide program that has been in existence for several years.

“Companywide Kroger donated more than 54 million pounds of perishable food through this program in 2014 — this is equivalent of 45 million meals donated to Feeding America food banks with the capacity to safely handle and distribute fresh food. For the Cincinnati/Dayton Division, we donated more than 1.7 million pounds of food through this program in 2014 — that’s equivalent to more than 1.3 million meals.

“…This program is in 100 percent of our stores across the company. It takes the dedication of thousands of our associates to make this happen.”

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