At least QFC customers still care, even if Kroger doesn't

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At least QFC customers still care, even if Kroger doesn't

Thursday, May 23, 2002

By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

The Kroger Co. probably doesn't care about the natterings of one newspaper columnist off in a remote corner of the map, and it may not care about the carping of disgruntled customers about the direction of its QFC subsidiary.

But if it does care about what customers are saying, it should take some encouragement from this: At least those customers still care enough to complain.

And, boy, are they complaining. Tuesday's column suggesting that if Kroger has no better idea how to run QFC it should sell it or spin it off as an independent prompted bucketloads of reader responses. We're talking Tim Eyman/income taxes/bad advertising levels of reader response, to cite a few examples of columns that didn't just press but stomped on readers' buttons.

QFC's implementation of its Advantage customer loyalty card, necessary to receive sale prices, is a sore point, and has prompted lots of response to Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Candy Hatcher's recent musings on the subject. You had better believe that competitors are noticing the displeasure. The Thriftway on South Grady Way in Renton, for example, is gleefully advertising on its electronic sign board that no cards are needed for sales there.

But for many the Advantage card is merely the last straw in an accumulation of straws that have been weighing on them to the point of forcing them to consider other options in grocery shopping. If Kroger believes the comments are just the gripes of a few over the single issue of cards, and the controversy will soon blow over, they might want to take a closer listen to what their customers -- or, in some cases, former customers -- are saying:

"We were always willing to pay a little more knowing that service was great, produce and fish and meat departments were quality and dependable. Not so in the last year and a half -- going more and more to Safeway since that store updated a local store. We miss the old QFC very much and find it frustrating not having the choices in food buying we liked. Have complained to stores, filling out cards, but it all falls on deaf ears at (the corporate) level."
"It's sad to see QFC falling on hard times. It used to be fun to shop there -- but not any more."
"Forty-plus years is a long time to stick to one store, but they always had good brands, perfect fruits and vegetables and meat and seafood, to say nothing of the friendly, competent service. I never had a complaint. Now the list is too long to list. Goodbye QFC!"

The most significant influence in the grocery business these days is the growing and looming presence of Wal-Mart; competitors like Kroger argue that they've got to cut costs, and prices, in order to fend off Wal-Mart.

Yet Kroger would appear to be squandering the sort of differentiation that would allow a QFC to stand out in the marketplace. Wrote one reader: "It's clear that they don't know their own market position."

Even more ominous is that Wal-Mart may not be content to compete simply on price. Here's a field report from one correspondent who went into a Wal-Mart in Yakima with a fairly low opinion of that company's stores generally as crammed, crowded and not particularly well-kept:

"I was shocked. They completely redid the store, big wide aisles (all in one direction), little mini stores on the perimeter ... nowhere in Yakima can you find the huge variety of items being stocked, items never before seen at Safeway, Albertson's, Top or the other outlets. Incredible bakery and deli. Wal-Mart has changed and is definitely going to be giving Washington stores a run for their money."

If there's any sympathy to be extended in this situation it's to the QFC employees, who have no say in how the company is run but are getting an earful from customers about the changes. Says one: "The employees likewise are not happy as we the customers voice our opinions on the new shopping cards. We are shooting the front line, as the employees take the brunt of it."

But why, one reader asked, should they be hearing anything at all? Safeway issued those cards and didn't run into the same firestorm, he said.

In fact, Safeway's cards were controversial when they were issued, but he is correct, the furor was not the same. A likely reason is that QFC was viewed, in this region, somewhat differently, than Safeway. QFC was a homegrown company. QFC is one of ours -- or at least it was.

A few readers asked whether it's too late for Kroger to make changes to QFC, even if it were so inclined to do so. It's not. Even though customers are unhappy, the fact that they're saying they're unhappy, and why, and that they would rather have stayed at QFC, indicates customers still care.

It's when customers leave, and don't feel it's worth the bother to say anything about it, that you're really in trouble.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com. His column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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