Greg Foran, who took over in February, says Kroger will reduce prices across thousands of products to claw back market share
Bloomberg / Getty Images
Speaking to Bloomberg in his first interview since taking the job in February, Foran described a staged approach: test the price cuts first, then expand them incrementally. "The reality is, the basket has to come down. And not everyone's basket is the same," he said. "It needs to be across thousands of products, and it has to be something that passes the commonsense piece with customers."
Funding the initiative will rely on operational efficiencies — among them, bypassing intermediaries to import goods directly and leaning harder on technology, with the resulting savings passed along to shoppers through cheaper prices. He declined to quantify the total investment.
Beyond pricing, Foran outlined an ambition to lift the quality of the shopping experience and open more stores. Next year's target of 70 to 80 new locations would represent twice the pace of openings in 2026.
The strategic reset comes after a turbulent stretch for the grocer: a blocked merger with Albertsons and the sudden exit of long-serving CEO Rodney McMullen about a year ago left the company in need of new leadership, Bloomberg reported. Foran, a New Zealand native who previously ran Walmart's U.S. division before leading Air New Zealand, is the company's first external CEO.
The push comes as grocery prices remain under pressure. Grocery prices rose 0.7% in April, the largest one-month increase in nearly four years, driven largely by energy costs linked to the conflict with Iran. Foran acknowledged that consumers are "wary of what they're seeing at the gas pump" and that affordability concerns could worsen if macroeconomic pressures persist, he told Bloomberg.
Kroger's rivals are also moving on price. Walmart has slashed prices on roughly 7,200 products — a tally that has grown by more than a fifth compared with the prior year — and credits that affordability push with drawing in customers at every income level. Walmart CEO John Furner said in response to questions about competitors' pricing efforts that the grocery industry has always been focused on value.
Kroger stock was down about 2% in morning trading.
Earlier this year, Kroger projected modest gains for 2026, with identical-store sales growth of 1% to 2% excluding fuel and adjusted earnings per share landing somewhere between $5.10 and $5.30.
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