Safeway Brands

Table of Contents

1. General Information/Key History of the Company

2. Situational Analysis

a. Environmental Analysis

b. Porter Analysis

3. Description of Product or Service Strategy

4. Pricing Strategy

5. Advertising and Promotion Strategy

6. Distribution and Logistics

7. Critique Ad for Product or Service

8. Analysis of Major Competitors

9. Company S.W.O.T.

10. Company Financial Analysis

11. Future Trends

12. Recommendations for the Future

13. Conclusions

14. References & Appendices

Company History

Safeway, Inc goes back to when the Sam Seelig Company was founded in April 1912 by Sam Seelig. Sam Seelig had come to California from Arizona in 1911and opened a single grocery store in Los Angeles at the corner of Pico and Figueroa streets. The chain had grown to 71 stores by 1922. After World War I the firm became deeply indebted to its main grocery wholesaler, a firm owned by W.R.H. Weldon. In a swap of stock for debt, Weldon assumed control of the chain, leaving Seelig in charge of retail operations. Seelig then left the company in 1924 to enter the real estate business, forming Sam Seelig Realty.

As a result of Seelig's departure, the company held a contest in 1925 to develop a new name, the result of which was Safeway. The original slogan was "an admonition and an invitation" to "Drive the Safeway; Buy the Safeway." The point of the name was that the grocery operated on a cash-and-carry basis; it did not offer credit, as had been traditional for grocers. It was the "safe way" to buy because a family could not get into debt via its grocery bill (as many families did, especially during the Great Depression). By 1926 Safeway Stores had 322 stores centered in Southern California. Weldon saw himself as a wholesaler and sold his 80% of the business for $3.5 million to Merrill Lynch in deal brokered by Charles E. Merrill.

Skaggs Stores had its start in 1915, when Marion Barton Skaggs...