So far this year, at least nine grocery chains have come under new ownership. Could your store be the tenth? Kroger’s announcement last week that it’s buying Harris Teeter represents the biggest, and latest, deal in the grocery merger and acquisition game (read: “Sold! Kroger Buys Harris Teeter”). About six weeks earlier, Bi-Lo scooped up Sweetbay, Harveys and Reid’s (read:[Read More…]
What to do with that little plastic card, when your grocery chain gets rid of its loyalty program? Toss it, shred it, stick it in a drawer – or hand it over to the store for a chance to win fabulous prizes? Some conspiracy theorists are wondering – what exactly does the store want with our loyalty cards anyway? Three[Read More…]
The other shoe has dropped, for the rest of the grocery chains recently acquired by the parent company of Albertsons. As their corporate cousins embrace “card free savings” and phase out digital coupons, Acme, Shaw’s and Star Market are following suit. Acme has ditched its SuperCard loyalty program, and Shaw’s and Star Market are expected to eliminate their Rewards Card[Read More…]
With a net worth of some $650 million, you probably won’t find former basketball star Michael Jordan clipping coupons. Especially if the coupons make him mad. One such coupon has him seeking damages of $5 million from a Chicago grocery chain, that claims all it wanted to do was congratulate Jordan for his success – by offering its customers a[Read More…]
In a reversal of the current trend toward gathering our data, accumulating “points” and loading our coupons onto shoppers’ cards, at least two newly-acquired grocery chains are heading in the opposite direction under new ownership. Jewel-Osco will be doing away with its loyalty card before the end of the month. And the Albertsons stores that currently offer e-coupons and grocery[Read More…]
Mention the name “Cerberus”, and some supermarket shoppers shudder. The private equity firm saddened thousands of shoppers and employees when it shut down or sold two-thirds of the roughly 600 Albertsons locations it acquired in 2006. And customers of several chains acquired by Cerberus earlier this year are wondering whether their stores will suffer the same fate. But could we[Read More…]
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Jewel-Osco. What was meant to be a friendly customer service gesture, backfired in a big way for the Chicago-based grocery chain. Now, Jewel is backing off – or, to be more accurate, it’s clarifying what it was trying to accomplish all along. The controversial “cart-to-car” service is no longer compulsory. Jewel quietly[Read More…]
Most retailers will claim that they’re listening to customers and responding to our needs – right before introducing changes that customers clearly hate. JCPenney now has been reduced to begging customers to come back, after more than a year of not listening to them at all. And for a variety of reasons, grocery chains Kroger, Jewel-Osco and Farm Fresh are[Read More…]
(Be sure to read this update: “Controversial ‘Cart to Car’ Service Clarified: No Means No, After All”) “Welcome to Jewel-Osco, where prices are low and friendliness is mandatory. Really, let us carry those bags out to the car for you. No, we insist. Seriously. Hand over the bags. Do it, now. Security!!” Getting into an arm-wrestling match over your shopping[Read More…]
You may not have noticed that there were big changes overnight at the Albertsons, Acme, Jewel, Shaw’s and Star Market grocery chains. But you’ll notice the bigger changes that are still to come. Changes like new coupon policies and a potential phasing out of store loyalty programs – if your store even survives that long. New owners officially took over[Read More…]
