雅虎香港財經 Nestlé North America CEO: 'We’re generally done with price increases'
Consumer goods giant Nestlé (NSRGY) seems to be hitting the pause button on price increases, at least for now in its US business.
"For North America, we think, we hope, we're generally done with price increases," Nestlé North America CEO Steve Presley told Yahoo Finance, though he did add, "never say never."
Per the latest three-month results from the company on April 25, Nestlé's North America business raised prices by 12.4% year over year.
This comes as overall grocery prices are holding steady, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) June Consumer Price Index (CPI). Last month, prices of food at the grocery store saw a 0.1% decline but are still higher year over year, up 4.7%.
Presley said he believes the worst of inflation is over. "We think the peak inflation is behind us and it'll start to slowly work its way down."
This comes as Nestlé saw same-store sales also jump, up 8.9%. As inflation softens, Presley said the company is leaning "pretty significantly" to drive up engagement and get back "challenged customers" hit by inflation.
One of the categories that saw positive sales includes its coffee business, which makes up 14% of its portfolio, with brands like Nescafé, Starbucks, and Nespresso.
Presley said consumers are viewing the lineup as "a significant value proposition versus out-of-home...If you buy our coffee and our creamer, you can actually make 20 cups at home every single day for the price of one out-of-home cup." Inflation remains at restaurants and bars, up 0.4% last month.
Consumers are actively looking to save at the grocery store too.
"There is a general momentum to store brand [labels]," Presley said, "but some categories, we're seeing very strong trade down" both to its products and away.
For pet care, which makes up the largest portion of the company's North America business (38%), he said there is "some trade down" away from brands like Purina.
In other categories though, such as pizza, the company is hoping consumers stick within its portfolio, which includes brands like California Pizza Kitchen, DiGiorno, Stouffer's, and Tombstone, among others.
"If you take pizza, for instance, we have very high-end pizzas at California Pizza Kitchen to DiGiorno to Jack's to Tombstone... that's the strategy we generally approach against all of our categories. ... We hope they trade down to ours and we continue our try to offer value for money in every single one of those segments."
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Brooke DiPalma is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.
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