Kroger figures out a way to profit from scrimping shoppers

Kroger posted some pretty impressive sales increases for the first quarter, surprising given the current climate. Are they doing something differently or are grocers simply benefiting from today's new "back to basics" philosophy?

Total sales increased 3.9% over the prior year. Identical supermarket sales, excluding fuel, increased 3.1% over the same period last year. This doesn't include fuel sales since gas prices are much lower than the same time last year. Kroger even confirmed it expects to end the year with supermarket sales growth of 3% to 4%, without fuel. This comes as rival grocer SuperValu says it will miss analyst expectations for this quarter, what with consumers spending less.