Kroger’s leadership transition brought fresh eyes to old problems. In early 2025 Rodney McMullen stepped down as CEO after a board investigation into personal conduct unrelated to operations. Greg Foran took the helm in February 2026. Four months later he had visited more than 100 stores. Only two in five met his standard for very good condition.
The challenges run deeper than store appearance. Foran quickly zeroed in on two trends squeezing margins and altering customer habits. One involves inventory losses that refuse to ease. The other shows shoppers hunting deals with surgical precision. Both reflect broader pressures on American households.
Grocery prices rose 2.7 percent year over year in May 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. High gas costs and reduced SNAP benefits compound the strain. “The customer is under pressure,” Foran told investors during Kroger’s first-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call, as reported by Yahoo Finance. “High gas prices and reduced SNAP benefits are squeezing budgets. Customers are managing spend carefully and shopping with real intent.”
That intent translates into fragmented trips. Shoppers skip the traditional weekly stock-up. They make more frequent stops aimed at promotions. “Customers are being more deliberate with their spending and, at times, shopping us selectively,” Foran continued. “We’re getting too many promotional trips and not enough of the full basket.”
Data from outside the company supports his view. A spring 2026 consumer sentiment survey by Alvarez & Marsal found 13 percent of grocery shoppers now make additional weekly trips to chase sales. Ibotta’s 2026 State of the Spend report noted strategic flexibility around in-store deals as the fastest-growing savings tactic. Consumers hunt value. They avoid full-price fills. The result leaves grocers with thinner baskets and higher operational friction.
Yet selective shopping forms only part of the story. Inventory shrink continues to weigh on results across retail. Industry estimates placed total U.S. retail shrink at roughly $112 billion in 2023, the highest on record. Shoplifting accounted for $40 billion to $50 billion of that. Employee theft added another $50 billion annually. A L.A. Darling analysis published June 18, 2025 cited $45 billion in shoplifting losses for 2024 alone.
Violence tied to theft has risen in parallel. The National Retail Federation’s 2024 report found 91 percent of retailers saw aggression linked to shoplifting increase. Between 2022 and 2023 incidents involving threats or violence jumped 42 percent. Cases with weapons climbed 39 percent. Seventy-three percent of retailers described shoplifters as more aggressive than the year before. Frontline workers report burnout, fear and high turnover.
Kroger has felt these forces directly. The company announced plans in 2025 to close roughly 60 stores over 18 months, a move tied in part to unsustainable losses from theft and inflation. Union representatives at UFCW 3000 pushed back on some closures, arguing reported theft numbers at certain Washington stores did not fully justify the decisions. Community forums in places like South Bend, Indiana, highlighted rising loitering and theft at local Kroger locations. One neighborhood store shut after being labeled high-shrink.
Self-checkout adds another layer. A Yahoo Finance report from April 2026 noted 27 percent of self-checkout users admitted to intentionally taking unscanned items, up 12 percentage points from 2023. Walmart and Target face similar issues. Grocery operators worldwide identify self-checkout as a notable contributor to shrink while organized retail crime grows more sophisticated.
Foran responded with a clear priority. He signaled sweeping price cuts on thousands of items to close the gap with Walmart, Costco, Aldi and others. The strategy relies on direct importing, technology improvements and tighter cost control, including efforts to reduce shrinkage. “Kroger needs to win back market share,” Foran has emphasized in multiple briefings. Lower prices must be visible the moment customers walk in.
Executives at other chains echo the pressure. Dollar General and similar operators have cited shrink in earnings commentary. Mixed reports emerge. Some retailers show progress through technology and staffing changes. Others see persistent elevation. Coresight Research tracked commentary from Kroger alongside Nordstrom and Ulta Beauty, noting frontline safety concerns remain elevated even as some shrink metrics vary by banner.
The human cost lands hardest on store associates. Retail employees describe desensitization after repeated confrontations. Focus groups conducted for industry studies reveal frustration and concern for personal safety. Those pressures contribute to turnover that further complicates loss prevention.
Policy responses vary. Some states stiffened penalties for organized retail theft. The FBI tracks large-scale operations that move stolen goods into secondary markets. Yet many incidents involve opportunistic individuals rather than syndicates. Brookings Institution analysis from 2024 cautioned against overstating a uniform national explosion in theft, noting pandemic-era disruptions and downtown recovery played roles in urban closures.
Kroger’s situation reflects the tension. The chain carries the nation’s largest supermarket footprint. Its performance influences food access in thousands of communities. When high-shrink locations close, residents lose convenient options. Prices at remaining stores may edge higher to offset losses. The cycle feeds itself.
Foran brings prior experience from outside the traditional grocery lane. His emphasis on store condition, price competitiveness and operational discipline aims to break that cycle. Early moves include a 90-day pricing review and focus on reducing shrink through better processes. Success depends on balancing investment in prevention with affordability that draws full baskets back.
Consumers show little sign of abandoning caution. Gas prices fluctuate. SNAP adjustments linger. Inflation memories remain fresh. Deal-seeking behavior has become habit. Promotional trips deliver immediate savings even if they raise costs for retailers through added labor and logistics.
And the data keeps coming. Recent earnings from peers suggest shrink remains a top discussion point. Some banners report stabilization. Others flag increases in specific categories or regions. No single fix applies. Technology helps at the shelf and register. Community partnerships and law enforcement cooperation matter. Clear internal policies on theft response reduce ambiguity for associates.
Kroger stands at a crossroads. Its new leader sees both the customer squeeze and the internal leakage. Addressing one without neglecting the other will test execution in the quarters ahead. Selective shoppers and stubborn shrink represent more than line items. They signal deeper shifts in how Americans buy food and how retailers stay viable.
Progress will show in basket size, shrink percentages and same-store sales. For now the trends Foran highlighted in that June earnings call capture a market under strain. Households stretch dollars. Stores guard inventory. The weekly grocery run feels increasingly like a relic.
Kroger’s New CEO Confronts Persistent Shrink and Selective Shoppers in a Strained Grocery Market first appeared on Web and IT News.