Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times writes:
"Like the grocers, the convenience stores and discount stores are not making a lot of money on their groceries. Instead, the goal is to draw more customers.
People shop for food on average about 2.5 times a week, [Bill Dreher, a retail analyst with Deutsche Bank] said, compared with once a month or so for a drugstore or Target. So if the stores can entice shoppers to pick up some groceries on the way home from work, marketing data shows they are likely to add some paper towels or nail polish or a DVD to their carts, spending around the same amount each time they visit."
