In some ways, a store loyalty program is the ultimate bait-and-switch. Retailers are able to lure us into their stores by promising lower prices, while knowing that a certain percentage of careless or confused shoppers who aren’t loyalty program members will end up paying the higher prices that are hidden in the fine print. Throw in some really confusing shelf[Read More…]
If you eat a diet of nothing but processed food, you can use coupons to feed your family for next to nothing. But even the best couponers end up having to spend money for things like fresh food and produce, because there are rarely coupons or great sales for them. So what would you think if your grocery store offered[Read More…]
There are “sell by,” “best by” and “use by” dates on our grocery products – but, let’s be honest, most of us really only look at the date and not the description. Even if it’s just a “best by” date, and it’s probably perfectly safe to eat after the date passes, most of us tend to err on the side[Read More…]
You know you’re a hard-core couponer when you buy a store-brand product and it feels like a splurge. While the average grocery shopper might think they’re saving money by choosing private label products over the national brands, couponers have learned that you can routinely combine coupons and sales to get name brands for much less than their more “inexpensive” equivalents.[Read More…]
Competition is supposed to be good for consumers. The more that retailers have to work to get our business, the better the deals we’re likely to get. But executives at one grocery chain are suggesting the opposite – with so many big-box stores, drug stores and dollar stores getting into the grocery game, the deals at your local supermarket might[Read More…]
They call them “loyalty” cards, but many of us have stacks of them weighing down our wallets and keychains, from nearly every store we shop at. So does being “loyal” to all, mean we’re really loyal to none? That’s what one of the country’s largest supermarket chains is struggling to figure out. Food Lion introduced its MVP Rewards Card nearly[Read More…]
Self-checkout stations have always been polarizing. Shoppers either love them, or hate them. They’re considered either a convenience, or an excuse to offer customer “no service”. Various stores either seem to be installing them, or tearing them out. Now you can count Hy-Vee among those that are coming down on the side of doing away with them. The Iowa-based grocery[Read More…]
“There’s so much more to the new Shaw’s!” the Boston-based grocery chain’s current slogan boasts. It’s calling attention to its lower prices, cleaner stores and “card-free savings” – but presumably, it wasn’t looking to call attention to the fact that it’s apparently laid off the proofreader in charge of looking over the weekly sales circular. Shaw’s shoppers (and grocery-shopping grammarians[Read More…]
Halloween is three months from today – so what are you waiting for? Better head to your local grocery store and start stocking up on candy! “Holiday creep” has made its way into the dead of summer, as there are several reports of Halloween candy displays going up in supermarkets. Joe found some at a grocery store in Vermont. Cliff[Read More…]
Everyone loves a good popularity contest. Which is why, as you may have read this week, media outlets pounced on a survey that proclaimed Trader Joe’s the most popular grocery store in the country. Some even gleefully pointed out that Walmart was ranked as the “worst”. But the truth, as they say, is a little more complicated. The fact remains[Read More…]
