This Week in Retail: Looking Ahead to Father’s Day Spending

Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, June 16^th, and retailers are prepping for the second big grilling holiday of the summer.

According to the National Retail Federation, Father’s Day spending in 2019 is expected to reach an all-time high of $16 billion. That’s up from last year’s $15.3 billion. This monumental spending figure still, however, pales in comparison to spending for Mother’s Day, coming in at a whopping $25 billion.

Mother’s Day has long been known as a foodservice holiday, but Father’s Day tends to favor grilling at home with some quality steaks, burgers, chops or ribs. The NRF also reports that spending for Father’s Day has grown 70 percent over the last decade, with special outings playing a big part of that growth, accounting for a projected $3.3 billion. With 76 percent of...

This Week in Retail: YOY Feature Price Comparison

It’s hard to believe there are only three weekends left to shop and prepare for Christmas. In the coming weeks, grocers will be pulling out all the stops to capitalize on consumer holiday spending.

Looking at buying opportunities in the current week, beef feature volume leads the protein pack with 25.2 percent. Seafood is a very close second with 24.7 percent, while pork claims 23.2 percent. Chicken accounts for 18.7 percent of feature volume.

In the beef complex, steak feature volume saw a larger week over week increase, with top sirloin taking the top spot with 19.1 percent. The average feature price for top sirloin this week is $6.02 per pound, which is up about 50 cents per pound from a year ago, and up from last week’s average of $5.24 per pound. However, more comparatively attractive year-over-year steak features can be found in... 

This Week in Retail: Ad Prices for Beef Most Attractive in Years

Beef prices have ridden an often-unpredictable roller coaster over the years. Swings in the wholesale market due to drought and other market factors over time eventually make their way to retail, though often more subtle and slowly. However, as consumers are continuously forced to adjust their budgets for beef, we’ve seemingly become more sensitive to fluctuations. So, when feature prices reach the lowest levels seen in years—consumers take note.

In 2013, the average weekly beef retail feature index price for the year was $4.89 per pound—and that was the last time it’s been below the $5 mark ever since. The market rose steadily through 2015 and 2016 before starting to soften...

Omaha Steaks Launches New Line of Dog Treats

OMAHA, NEBRASKA — Omaha Steaks, retailer of steaks, seafood and food gifts for humans, now offers a new line of premium dog treats. The fifth generation, family-owned company cites the nearly 78 million US dog-owning households and the increasing demand for dog treats. Market research firm, Packaged Facts, reports the sale of pet treats and chews topped $6 billion in sales in 2017.

“We understand that Americans love their dogs and consider them family. That is why we wanted to offer a line of premium ingredient dog treats that our customers could trust,” said Todd Simon, senior vice president and family owner. “For generations, Omaha Steaks has been bringing families together around the dinner table and we are sure that many dogs have enjoyed bites of filet mignon slipped to them under the table. Now we are offering something made exclusively for the family dogs we know and love.”

Omaha Steaks’ new line of dog treats are made ...

This Week in Retail: The Lead-Up to Labor Day

Labor Day weekend is just two weeks away (yes, you read that correctly, only two weeks!) and grocers are gearing up for the last hoorah of the summer season.

The bulk of purchasing for Labor Day is already completed, and the meat case along with the prepared foods section is expected to perform well over the holiday with many popular grilling items featured below year ago levels.

Ground beef in particular should get notable circular attention in the lead-up to Labor Day. In 2017, there were nearly 10,000 fresh ground beef buying opportunities in the final week of August, up about 1,000 from the previous week. Total ground beef buying opps in August 2017 were 38,680. So far in 2018, August has recorded 19,829 ground beef buying opps, with two full weeks left in the month—one of them being the buying week for Labor Day.

Currently, 80% lean ground beef averages $3.09 per pound, down a notable 13 percent from...

This Week in Retail: Beef Promotions Up, Prices Down

This week in retail, we’ll take an inside look at the retail beef complex. Feature volume is up year over year for June and July so far, indicating a strong summer for beef in 2018. Prices are comparatively lower, offering incentive for consumers—and competition for other proteins.  

Urner Barry’s Weekly Retail Feature Beef Index is at a 4-year low this week, at $5.80 per pound. That’s 11 percent under last year at this time and 8 percent below the 3-year average.   

If we look at the month of June in 2017 vs. 2018, buying opportunities totaled 180,488 a year ago, while June of this year saw 187,028 buying opps—a 4 percent increase. Comparatively, buying opps totaled 218,151 in July 2017.  So far in July 2018, we’ve recorded 130,959 as of the week of July 16^th, on pace to beat last year’s monthly feature volume...