Grocers are giving shoppers a hand with an unusual premium: a bag handle.
Grabb-It is a cardboard sleeve that slides over the top of a plastic grocery bag to stabilize the bag and make it easier to carry. Albertsons, Publix, Smiths and Price Chopper put ads and coupons on the cardboard handles to promote store specials, then give the handles free to shoppers.
Grabb-It was invented by Carl Truly, a former packaged goods exec who made a few cardboard sleeves to help his elderly mother carry her groceries home. Some of her friends saw it, so Truly made a few dozen more. Then the store manager noticed these women using the handles, and said he’d like to offer them to all his shoppers.
A survey of 1,200 shoppers found that 98% appreciate the free premium, and 83% could recall the brand name advertised on the handle.
The patented four-inch handles are made by Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. and sold by Oceanside, CA-based Grabb-It, Inc.. Some packaged goods brands have expressed interest in placing ads on the handles, but no deals have been signed. USA-Strategies, Willowbrook, IL, handles marketing for Grabb-It.
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