Kroger Wins on Shopping Experience, Grocery Sales Remain Upbeat

The country's largest grocery chain Kroger grew double digits this summer and happy shoppers brought in better-than-expected results all around. The name is in focus on Thursday. For the most recent quarter, profit came in at 30 cents a share, beating forecasts by a penny. Sales rose almost 12% to $25 billion. Kroger has been growing faster than most of its peers. Sales at grocery stores open for more than 15 months grew 5% compared to a year earlier. Shoppers can get fresh groceries from a lot of stores, and Kroger believes the way it can stand out is by giving better service. CEO Rodney McMullen said, "We are winning with customers because we offer a full range of advantages including a great overall shopping experience, excellent customer service, a complete assortment of both national and corporate brand products, and everyday low prices and promotional offerings." He expects same store sales to grow around 4% this year.