Like an angered heavyweight who decides to slug instead of box, the huge A. & P. food company has been weighing into competitors for the past year with a pulverizing cut-rate price policy called Where Economy Originates, or WHO. By paring its markups from 20% to 13% on total sales, A. & P. aims to regain consumers whom it had been losing to more inventive food merchandisers. Fighting back, A. & P.'s rivals are offering big price cuts of their own as well as 24-hour service and more nongrocery goods. The clash is spilling red ink all over supermarkets in...
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