Publications

November 2019 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Grupo Éxito: Facing Colombia's Competitive Grocery Retail Industry

By: José B. Alvarez, Carla Larangeira, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Miguel Diaz Moreno

Grupo Éxito, a leading South American retailer, faced declining market shares in Colombia in 2019 with the arrival of low-cost competitors and emerging digital trends. Originally founded in Medellín, Éxito had over the course of its seventy-year history evolved from a... View Details

Keywords: Grocery; Market Share; Information Technology; Trends; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; Colombia; Latin America

November 2015 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Mission Impossible? Yummy77 Delivers Groceries within the Hour

By: Benjamin Edelman

Yummy77 considers alternative operational models to reduce cost, improve speed, and increase appeal. Can one of these approaches succeed where others have failed? View Details

Keywords: Grocery Delivery; Operations; Platforms; Logistics; Distribution; Food; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; China

April 2015 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Instacart and the New Wave of Grocery Startups

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Instacart is testing an Uber-style solution to the challenge of building a home-delivered grocery business. It is backed by $220 million of venture funding. Will this model succeed where businessses like Webvan failed? What are the questions that this exploratory... View Details

Keywords: Food Retailing; Outsourced Grocery Delivery; Online Ordering; Dynamic Pricing; Data Analytics; Marketing Strategy; Food; Distribution Channels; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; California

24 Mar 2019
News

Instacart Exec Fell in Love with Grocery Stores Early

Keywords: online grocery delivery; online retail; career paths; Retail Trade

March 2017
Teaching Note

AmazonFresh: Rekindling the Online Grocery Market

By: Rory McDonald

Teaching Note for HBS No. 615-013. View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Strategy; New Markets; Grocery; Operations Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Competition; Emerging Markets; Learning; Service Operations; Online Technology; United States

January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Less Is More: Will Aldi's Expansion Plans Pay Off in a Crowded U.S. Grocery Market?

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

In 2024, the discount grocery retailer Aldi announced bold U.S. expansion plans. Within five years, the German company would increase its store count by 30% to reach 3,200+ stores across the United States and approach becoming the fifth largest grocery retailer in the... View Details

Keywords: Scope; Grocery; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Business Model; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

November 1999 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Webvan: Groceries on the Internet

By: John A. Deighton and Kayla Bakshi

What are the prospects for grocery shopping on the Web? This case invites a comparison of seven business models, with particular emphasis on Webvan. Why does the investment community value Webvan at $7.8 billion after less than six months of operating experience, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Experience and Expertise; Investment; Information; Marketing; Distribution Channels; Service Delivery; Cognition and Thinking; Internet and the Web; Retail Industry; Service Industry

26 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

How Grocery Bags Manipulate Your Mind

out that an everyday item has the power to act as both angel and devil every time we go to the grocery store. It lurks in car trunks and pantries all over the world, waiting to guide us simultaneously down paths of virtue and vice. What... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

25 May 2011
News

Online grocery market reaches maturity

26 Feb 2014
News

How Grocery Bags Manipulate Your Mind

01 Aug 2017
News

Men Are Now The Predominant Grocery Shoppers

July 1990 (Revised February 1991)
Case

H.E. Butt Grocery Co.

Find at Harvard

February 2015
Teaching Note

Eataly: Reimagining the Grocery Store

By: Sunil Gupta and Michela Addis

Within a few years of its operations, the Italian-based supermarket Eataly created a lot of buzz and excitement among consumers and media. Eataly's initial success was even more impressive in an industry known for its intense competition and low margins. How did Eataly... View Details

Keywords: Customer Engagement; Innovation; Retailing; Supermarkets; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Food; Customers; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; North and Central America; Asia

20 Mar 2018
News

Has online grocery delivery reached a tipping point?

20 Jun 2017
News

Amazon Is Primed To Take Over The Grocery Store Industry

Research Summary

Recent Strategies in the U.S. Grocery Industry

By: Rajiv Lal

Rajiv Lal's work comparing the benefits of EDLP and Hi-Lo strategies in the grocery industry indicates that while EDLP grocery retailers may not be able to benefit from traditional costs savings associated with this strategy, these retailers still benefit from the use... View Details

02 Aug 2018
News

Smaller Grocery Stores Might Be Making A Comeback

August 1995 (Revised July 1997)
Case

H.E. Butt Grocery Company: A Leader in ECR Implementation (A) (Abridged)

By: F. Warren McFarlan

Describes the industry context that has resulted in the development of efficient consumer response (ECR) within the grocery industry and its adoption by H.E. Butt Grocery Co. View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Adoption; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry