KROGER CO (KR)

Kroger is a U.S. retail grocery company, founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1902. Its core business is supermarkets, supplemented by retail pharmacies and fuel centers. Its strategy is to grow households and customer loyalty through value and convenience, with investments in Fresh, Our Brands, Personalization and eCommerce. Revenue comes mainly from selling consumer products in its stores, at its fuel centers and through online platforms. The company also uses the data and traffic from its retail business to run a higher-margin alternative profit business, including third-party media revenue, and reinvests the proceeds in retail.

As of January 31, 2026, Kroger operated 2,697 supermarkets under various local banners, of which 2,250 had pharmacies and 1,731 had fuel centers. About 51% of the supermarkets were in Company-owned facilities. Its eCommerce offering includes Pickup and Harris Teeter ExpressLane at 2,408 supermarkets, plus Delivery from stores, customer fulfillment centers and third-party platforms. Kroger Precision Marketing, its retail media business, sells targeted advertising to consumer-packaged goods companies and other partners through on-site search, display, social media, connected TV and in-store placements. Our Brands, its private label portfolio, generated over $39 billion of sales in 2025. Its tiers are Private Selection (premium), Kroger (the majority of private label items), Smart Way (value) and the natural and organic Simple Truth. Supermarkets stock over 13,000 private label items on average.

Kroger serves about 63 million households annually across 35 states and the District of Columbia, and over 95% of transactions are tied to its loyalty card. It uses more than 20 years of data science investment to personalize offers and to support its data analytics and media businesses. Sales are mostly not seasonal, though revenue tends to rise around major holidays, and weather events such as winter storms can affect sales trends.

Roughly 20% of Our Brands units sold in its supermarkets are made in Kroger's own food production plants. As of January 31, 2026, it owned 33 plants: 14 dairies, nine deli or bakery plants, five grocery product plants, two beverage plants, one meat plant and two cheese plants. Outside manufacturers produce the remaining Our Brands items to Kroger's specifications, and "make or buy" analyses guide sourcing decisions. Kroger employed more than 403,000 full- and part-time employees, and more than two-thirds are covered by about 350 collective bargaining agreements. Its fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to January 31.