Locked-In: Wegmans
In This Edition:
- Wegmans x Lauryn Hill
- Multicultural Muzak
- DEI vs Multiculturalism
- Scale or Die OR DEI or Die?
- Final Thoughts & Wegmans x The Office
Photo: Dylan Labrie
Wegmans x Lauryn Hill
While visiting Washington, D.C. I could not resist a visit to a local Wegmans grocery store in Lanham, Maryland. Upon walking in the store I was immediately energized by the music playing on the store’s speakers. It was the first time I walked into a grocery store and heard the recognizable voice of R&B/Hip Hop artist Lauryn Hill playing while people shopped for their avocados and apples. I have always known Wegmans attention to detail and cultivation of industry leading perimeter departments, but I was blown away with how well they were managing to personalize, segment and reach their target shopper.
Photo: Dylan Labrie
The Lanham “Woodmore” Wegmans #40 is located in Prince George’s county Maryland, a county that geographically “hugs” the eastern corners of D.C. Prince George’s is the second most affluent Black-majority county in the United States1 and it is home to several major D.C. landmarks from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to Andrews Air Force Base. The county is named after Prince George of Denmark.
Multicultural Muzak
It is a testament to Wegmans attention to detail that they not only know how to market their products to a diverse audience. When I worked in multicultural marketing in the mid-2000s, we toured and checked stores in the United State’s largest multicultural markets from L.A. to NYC’s the Bronx. It was not uncommon to walk into a national chain store in an ethnic community and hear the same top 40 pop music soundtrack background music playing that they played in their less diverse stores in the middle of the country. Apparently it worked because it was a generalist strategy and it was a time when the competition was doing the same.
DEI vs Multiculturalism
Fast forward to today and we have a country that is continuing to become more culturally diverse, despite the pressures of an anti-DEI movement. I was visiting my nephew who lives in an affluent predominantly Black Northeast D.C. neighborhood less than ten miles from the Lanham Wegmans store. I noticed a small generic looking independently owned convenience store near his house. When I asked my nephew if he shopped there, he said, “No, because they always have someone standing at the door who watches me the whole time I am shopping.” My nephew is a Morehouse College educated school administrator. He finished with, “I am working with my neighbors because we all want that store OUT of our neighborhood”. Regardless of whether my nephew and his neighbors are successful in uprooting this store, the pressure is real in 2024 and it is bound to only get worse.
Photo: Dylan Labrie
Scale or Die OR DEI or Die?
I leave you with my fundamental observation that as this nation continues its march towards further cultural diversification that the pressure to maintain the status quo will only intensify. The grocery industry operates on razor thin margins where national retailers are dependent on scaling their stores to an almost generic standard. Those retailers who are able to segment their market and better reach their customers versus their competitors will always win the majority of the customers. It is not enough to simply change the store background music to appeal to the locals, you have to also be willing to procure and personalize the store’s selection of items to better fit with the local taste. I saw all of this and more in the Lanham Wegmans.
Final Thoughts & Wegmans x The Office
Wegmans has come a long way since NBC’s TV Sitcom “The Office” (2005 to 2013) prominently featured many of Wegmans brands including the time when Dwight Schrute emptied a can of Wegmans private-label WPOP brand diet soda so he could relieve himself into the can. Being culturally sensitive to their shoppers' needs is not only a good look for Wegmans, it's an effective business strategy if you consider the Lanham store is a stone’s throw from their competitor, Giant-Landover’s Landover, MD. headquarters. Wegmans Lanham is the dog fighting the other dog in its own backyard.
It’s only been thirty-one years since Wegmans opened its first store outside of New York state. The chain is now up to 109 stores and growing. Apparently they are doing something right and concerning WPOP, they discontinued the brand citing health concerns given the product contained artificial ingredients.
1 Brown, DeNeen L. (January 23, 2015). "Prince George's neighborhoods make 'Top 10 List of Richest Black Communities in America'". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
2 Van Dam, Andrew (June 29, 2022). "Analysis | Is Prince George's still the richest majority-Black county in America?". The Washington Post.