Supermarket shopping is going high tech, and soon customers may be carrying their cell phones instead of circulars to receive store specials.
The Chevy Chase Supermarket has become the first upscale grocer in the Washington, DC, area to offer customers a chance to earn rewards and instant savings via their cell phones. Under the Mobile Rewards by MobileLime, patrons can sign up to receive text messages and e-mails for in-store specials and promotions.
The program, which launched in August, lets the supermarket communicate with customers before, during and after each transaction. Customers can also enter their cell phone number at the checkout and receive instant savings toward their purchases. Shoppers’ purchasing habits determine store specials.
“We wanted to be able to recognize individual purchases of the people that shop there,” said MobileLime CEO Robert Wesley. “They really believe in a high-touch type of environment. The challenge is to keep them coming there rather than going to competitors.”
To keep shoppers coming back for more, Chevy Chase Supermarket gave program members some sweet incentives. For example, some customers received an offer to buy a pint of blueberries for 88 cents; other received an offer to buy a 50-ounce container of Edy’s ice cream for 25 cents.
“As a neighborhood grocer, we want to build a relationship with our patrons and MobileLime’s Mobile Rewards program enables us to interact with them in real-time, communicating up to the minute specials and events,” said Kevin Kirsch of family-owned Chevy Chase Supermarket. “Shoppers can now get instant savings without carrying a card, and receive just-in-time shopping information about new products, events, sales and promotions on their cell phones.”
The Mobile Rewards program is free and consumers can register for the program in-store or at ChevyChaseSupermarket.com.
Customers receive weekly offers and specials on their mobile phones. More than 1,000 people have signed up since the program’s launch in August, Wesley said. “It’s growing rapidly,” he said. “We’re seeing exponential growth occurring.”
Other states participating in mobile rewards programs include Massachusetts, Illinois and soon in Texas, Wesley said. MobileLime last year launched a similar loyalty and rewards marketing program that targets customers’ cell phones at Broadway Marketplace, an upscale Cambridge, MA-based grocer. Text-message promotions are sent to shoppers’ cell phones before, during and after in-store transactions.
In August, MobileLime rolled out a mobile coupon program with Subway restaurants in Buffalo, NY-area Subways restaurants. Consumers could sign up for the Mobile Alert Club via text message or in-store to receive Subway specials and offers (PROMO Xtra, Aug. 2, 2006).
Signage and online materials support Mobile Rewards.
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