Could we finally be nearing a tipping point where activating a digital deal is no longer required to get advertised grocery sale prices?
In California, which has recently been ground zero in the battle to make digital-only deals more accessible to all, a second grocery chain has announced it’s no longer requiring customers to go online first in order to take advantage of advertised discounts.
The owner of Save Mart and Lucky supermarkets, with a combined 134 stores in Northern and Central California and Western Nevada, has introduced new “Member Pricing.” Effective with the newest weekly ad that began yesterday, shoppers who are members of the store’s loyalty program “no longer need to clip a coupon to save at checkout,” the retailer explained. “Member Prices apply automatically when shoppers enter their phone number. No coupons, no codes, no extra steps.”
Before this week, deals advertised in the weekly circular were a confusing mix of sale prices and “after coupon” prices. Some were available to everyone, others only to loyalty program members, and still others only available to loyalty program members if they went online and clipped a digital coupon first to “activate” the offer. Shoppers who weren’t paying close attention might glance at the circular, see a low price advertised, and expect to pay that price – only to find out they should have read the fine print first.
“We heard from our customers that savings should be simple – that’s exactly what Member Pricing delivers,” Zeb Early, Senior Vice President of Merchandising for The Save Mart Companies, said in a statement. “Your Member Prices are ready for you at checkout. No prep, no clipping, no remembering to activate something before you shop. We think that changes how people experience savings at our stores.”
Frustrated shoppers – and many lawmakers – have been clamoring for that very type of simplicity for years. Consumer World first decried the growing trend toward digital-only discounts four years ago, pointing out that “historically, in order to take advantage of all the sale items featured in a chain’s weekly circular, all shoppers had to do at most was to show their loyalty card to the cashier.” But now, “shoppers who want to buy any item flagged as a digital deal must in advance preselect and load it into their online account on the store’s website or app in order to get the advertised sale price in the store,” which disadvantages seniors and others who lack digital access or acuity.
Several states proposed legislation to ban digital-only grocery deals. When they went nowhere, city lawmakers in San Diego took matters into their own hands on the local level, and passed the country’s first ordinance requiring stores to offer non-digital ways for shoppers to access digital-only grocery deals.
The city of Los Angeles then considered legislation of its own. And the city of San Francisco was urged to do the same.
So it appeared to be no mere coincidence when California-based Raley’s introduced its own “new Member Pricing” earlier this year. While Raley’s said the move was a “response to changing customer expectations and shopping behaviors,” it sure looked like anticipatory compliance ahead of any potential legislation in its part of the state.
San Diego’s ordinance is meant to apply only to advertised deals, in which a sale price is prominently featured in a weekly ad or on an in-store sign. It’s not meant to apply to all discounts that require online access, such as digital coupons. So it’s worth noting that both Raley’s and Save Mart’s websites and apps also feature hundreds of clippable coupons that are unaffected by the new automatic Member Pricing – shoppers still need to actively select them in order to use them.
If this latest move by Save Mart is meant to get ahead of lawmakers, lawmakers in one state have already gotten ahead of them. A bill currently sitting on the Illinois governor’s desk awaiting his signature would require grocery stores in that state to offer equal access to all digital deals – including digital coupons. If signed into law, moves like the ones Save Mart and Raley’s have made, wouldn’t be good enough in Illinois.
For now, though, shoppers out West who’ve grown tired of jumping through hoops will find that saving money at the grocery store has become just a little bit easier. “Offers live in the Coupons section and usually require clipping,” Save Mart clarified to customers. “Member Prices are automatic pricing – no clipping required.”
So shoppers who don’t have digital access still won’t be able to save quite as much as those who do. But to those who want to make grocery deals more accessible to everyone – it’s a start.
