Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Jet.com on Wednesday opened a limited-time artisanal grocery and household accessories store in New York. Jet is working in partnership with Story, a 2,000-square-foot, ever-changing concept store in Manhattan’s 10th Avenue retail corridor. The store will be open until June 18.
The store features eclectic décor, such as a custom mural by artist and food illustrator Claudia Pearson, a moss wall installation and cherry-scented wallpaper, as well as a curated selection of 650 SKUs, which is a far cry from online marketplace Jet.com’s more than 20 million SKUs. The store will also host a number of events, including appearances by celebrity chef Mario Batali and pastry chef and cookbook author Stephen Collucci.
The store aims to help Jet increase awareness of its assortment of fresh produce, artisan foods and other “culinary-inspired” merchandise, a Jet spokeswoman says. Jet says it can deliver fresh produce to half of the United States without refrigerated trucks using its proprietary insulated packaging that is made from recycled denim, reusable frozen gel packs and recyclable foil bags.
Like its rival Amazon.com Inc., Jet (and its parent company Wal-Mart) is in a push to grab market share in the rapidly growing online food category. 23% of U.S. households bought at least some groceries online in 2016, up from 19% in 2014, according to a report from the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and The Nielsen Co.
Those sales represent about 4.3% of U.S. consumer retail food and beverage spending. But by 2025, as many as 70% of U.S. consumers will buy groceries online and those purchases will total more than $100 billion, the report forecasts. That would give online shopping a 20% share of consumer food and beverage spending, which is nearly five times the current level.
Wal-Mart, No. 3 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500, says it doesn’t have plans to open up any other Jet-branded grocery stores in the near future.
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