Kroger (locally, Pick'N'Save and MetroMarket) just told 5,000 American IT peeps to drop dead.
Kroger, the largest operator of traditional supermarkets and a very large employer in Cincinnati, is moving their entire "capability" department to India.
They're doing it because a job that currently pays over $100,000 a year here in the United States pays under $40,000 a year in India. This is likely to lead to 5,000 or more of those higher-paying jobs disappearing from Cincinnati and elsewhere across the country....
Meijer and Woodman's look better every day.
It’s called a prudent business decision designed to maximize profit for shareholders. This is capitalism at its core.
ReplyDeleteHere is a nuanced source in the situation
https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2026/08/03/kroger-could-outsource-jobs
— Kroger is looking to save $500 million with its new ‘Kroger Capability Center’ one industry analyst says.
The new center, located in India, could be the new home for some of Kroger’s corporate-based jobs, according to analyst and former Kroger consultant Brittain Ladd. According to Ladd, people have estimated the shift could affect over 5,000 jobs at the company. But this practice is not new, he said.
“The majority of the retailers, the large retailers, have been doing this for 20 years. So Kroger is significantly behind in terms of outsourcing to India for a program like this.”
When asked about layoffs in relation to the KCC, a Kroger spokesperson said that any attempts to estimate headcount reduction were “premature and irresponsible.”
The umbrella term for what Kroger built is called a “Global Compatibility Center” or GCCC. Best Buy opened its own GCC in 2025, and Target did the same back in 2005.
“Over in India, we’re talking about there’s a huge labor pool of highly skilled workers, and they are not paid nearly as much as our workers here,” said Henry Jin, associate professor of supply chain management at Miami University. “India is also home to one of the largest pools of English speaking workers in the world as well. And so the transition would be relatively seamless.”
According to Jin, Kroger has been resistant to outsourcing in the past, but said the state of the economy and various tariffs may have forced the company’s hand.
When asked about the Kroger Capability Center, a spokesperson for the company said the facility is part of their overall modernization efforts.
“The Kroger Capability Center is one of many opportunities for the company to lower operational costs and reinvest those savings in lower prices for our customers.”—