It’s been a week since Winn-Dixie launched a new digital coupon program, and the fine print had some wondering if this could possibly be the best digital coupon program ever. Not only did the e-coupon policy suggest that coupons might reappear in your account after you used them once, but it said you could combine digital coupons with paper coupons[Read More…]
The grocery chain that already dominates Facebook and perennially tops customer satisfaction surveys is now setting its sights on a new conquest: Publix has officially joined Twitter. It may not seem like big news for fans of other grocery chains that have been tweeting for years. But Publix has a fanatically loyal fan base, and where Publix goes, fans follow.[Read More…]
If you’re going shopping this weekend, and paying with a credit card – watch out. Beginning Sunday, stores can charge you extra for it. Under the terms of a settlement reached last year, stores will have the option of adding a surcharge for credit card payments – passing the cost that they already pay to the credit card companies, on[Read More…]
For years, store loyalty cards were lonely. Their only purpose in life seemed to be to give you access to sale prices, while non-card holding suckers had to pay full price. Then along came digital coupons, and it was love at first sight. The marriage of loyalty cards and digital coupons seemed a given – the cards were a convenient[Read More…]
Kevin the Meatbay Butcher is not amused. The personable, punny public face of the Florida-based Sweetbay grocery chain’s Facebook page fell silent today, so his platform could be taken over for a more pressing matter. The Sweetbay Facebook page became an impromptu counseling session, to help customers and employees take in the news that a third of the chain’s stores[Read More…]
January 7 update: read “Walmart Responds to Competitors’ Challenge”. It started with supermarkets, then drug stores, then toy and electronics stores, too. Now a number of retailers are crying foul, and asking authorities to investigate the “Walmart Challenge”. The nearly year-old TV, radio, print and online campaign is officially known within Walmart as the “Market Basket Challenge”. The ads are[Read More…]
Isn’t it nice of your local grocery store to offer free WiFi? That way, you can use your mobile device to email, go online – and have your every move tracked while you shop. Nice! It’s well known that one of the tradeoffs of having a store loyalty card is that your store knows what you’re buying. Plenty of shoppers[Read More…]
Sure, you like your local grocery store, but have you “liked” them? A roundup of the most and least popular grocery retailers on social media sites (see the full list below) can yield some interesting insights, though it also shows that “likes” aren’t necessarily everything. Florida-based Publix was recently criticized (in “Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer” magazine) for being “technology-challenged”: “Yes,[Read More…]
Some stores are loyal to their loyalty cards, others hope introducing cards will make their customers loyal to them. But still others refuse to go the loyalty card route – and they may be onto something. If you haven’t read the latest exciting issue of “Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer” magazine – and, really, what’s keeping you? – the trade publication[Read More…]
As more supermarkets expand their selection to include more wine, beer and specialty foods along with the usual staple grocery items, Harris Teeter is taking a different tack. The southeastern grocery chain is planning a brand new store concept that ditches many of the usual staple grocery items altogether, in favor of high-end items that you might need to entertain[Read More…]
