Trader Joes is one of my favourite food stores. Whenever I visit the States I never fail to visit it. It is such a pleasure to walk the isles and check out the products. The choice is eclectic and they always have some new surprises.
The Article: How Trader Joe’s Wine Obsession Launched Its Grocery Revolution
The Twitter Thread by Cristina Beta Jones
Some great points from article and thread
Joe broke with tradition. Rather than worrying about which items his customers expected, Joe became obsessed with products with a high value relative to size.
“As I learned time and time again, success in business often rests on a minute reading of regulations.”
The biggest thing Joe discovered as he peered into the supply chains of health foods was that he had been right: Almost every product in the grocery store could be sold like wine. Commodity is a matter of perception.
In company-wide memo, Joe rejected several hundred years of cliché, and announced, “The Customer Is Not Always Right.” Trader Joe’s would flip the narrative, empowering buyers instead. Rather than use them as cogs in charge of replenishment, why not let them run free. His buyers actually engaged in the nuance of manufacturing, regulation, distribution, and nutrition.
a single store carried fewer than 1,500 skus
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