During the past week, announcements by supermarket chains suggest competition and efforts to attract new customer demographics. 

• Walmart appears to be moving upmarket to attract higher income consumers with their newly introduced Bettergoods™ premium private brand. 
• In contrast, Whole Foods Market known for a “whole paycheck” image is moving to attract middle income shoppers with price reductions and promoting their 365™ brand.
• Target is offering price reductions on 5,000 SKUs. The danger with this approach is that traffic may increase at the cost of ticket ending with little or no contribution to the bottom line.
• Aldi continues with a concentration on value with low prices based on a formula of limited SKUs a concentration on house brands and low overheads. 

With price sensitive shoppers seeking value without willing to sacrifice quality, it
appears that both high and low-price national chains are gravitating towards a median.