A&P Opts For 2-Way CRM Strategy With Digital Coupons
Written by Evan SchumanNovember 19th, 2009
As the $9.5 billion A&P grocery chain eyes the future of coupons and CRM, its top CRM executive likes what he sees in two-way CRM dataflow but is much less enamored of most mobile approaches. In particular, he points to unacceptably inaccurate barcode scans from phone displays. Don Yee, A&P's VP of CRM, online sales and customer care, is not alone among retailers having concerns about direct phone barcode scans; others are complaining about glare or even excessive dirt impacting read rates.
But the A&P exec said his concerns are more generic, as in "the imaging of the mobile device itself and the readability of the barcode on the mobile." Another factor is that chains need to deal with a staggeringly large number of different phones, with very different screens, and they must interface with all of them with the same barcode scanning wand.
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2 Comments | Read A&P Opts For 2-Way CRM Strategy With Digital Coupons
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-Christine
November 19th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
The A&P and Zavers approach to POS discounts makes all the sense in the world. Even though it is still a long way off, retailers must begin preparing for the long term separation of their marketing and distribution roles. The Internet will become the key marketing vehicle and the store will continue to focus on its distribution role. An interim approach might be to order online and pick-up at store, but ultimately home delivery will prevail. This will be especially true in A&P’s northeast market area where trips are planned not by their distance but by the number of traffic lights along the route. This concentrated population area makes it even more viable to separate the retailer roles.
Assuming my outlook is correct, retailers need to be focusing much more on their Internet presence. The website needs to be much more than just an online store. It must focus on a “concierge role” with consumers and a “broker role” with manufacturers. This means that for consumers it needs to offer reasons to shop the retailer and expand the assortment of items. The unique position supermarkets hold is that many of their products have short shelf lives and drive frequent visits to the store. This means that supermarkets have frequent opportunity to deliver products to their customers. If they can use the Internet to expand their product offerings, support consumer menu planning, develop charity affiliations, link to online banking, etc. they will build a consumer relationship that goes beyond being a source of products.
The retailer’s broker role can help manufacturers reach particular customers who would use their products. By building their relationship with consumers and using the website to leverage that relationship with manufacturers, retailers should be able to elicit special allowance and other marketing discounts from their suppliers that allow them to pass on even greater savings to their customers. This is a win/win as manufacturers are able to reach targeted customers and customers receive better prices.
I have tried the A&P system. Their website is a great start and is full of potential. As a consumer, the biggest weakness I saw was that the discounts appear as a single total on the receipt. From an operating perspective this also creates an opportunity for arbitrage as consumers buying on discount could return for full credit. I don’t think this is important at supermarket price points but other retailers might find it an issue.
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:00 am
I agree. Great A&P and its Lower Price Project is a start, but everything, zavers, coupons.com,good deals, Easy Solutions, the weeky flyer, all must somehow be integrated to maximize customer convenience.
All of these are tools in the customer’s arsenal to make his/her scarce grocery dollars increase in purchasing power. Those who do not take full advantage of these tools are not maximizing their potential savings.