TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross

How to get Americans shopping

August 14, 2012 @ 8:33 am (Updated: 9:45 am - 8/14/12 )

cedargrove
Coupons aren't just generic mailers anymore. (AP)

While the politicians bicker over how to get Americans shopping, grocers are taking action.

They've amped up their loyalty cards with customized digital coupons that target you personally.

I watched the signup video for Safeway's Just4U program. Watch.

"You're going to need your Club Card or phone number, because Just4U works with your shopping history," says Margaret, the woman in the Just4U promotional video.

And this is not like those mass mailings that merely print your name on a boilerplate coupon -- these are deals based on your personal shopping profile.

The idea is to give YOU a deal that someone else might not get.

"You do want to get those Just4U emails, they let you know when your new savings are in," the promotional video says.

According to the New York Times, the computer is so smart that If you have teenage boys, for example, it will offer a discount on sliced bologna; and if your shopping patterns indicate that price is no object, it'll recommend the expensive sliced bologna.

Kroger has a similar program. Other chains will follow because it works. Kroger reports the redemption rate of these personalized coupons is 70 percent.

And you see what's eventually going to happen. Price tags become meaningless because the price is potentially different for every person. Like airline seats. Like variable tolls. But if it gets people into the stores, that's exactly what the economy needs.

"OK, you're all signed up and ready to save," says Margaret, the promotional voice for Just4U.

I know the economists say income inequality is growing in America. But this reminds us that if you play your loyalty cards right -- you can still come away with a real bargain on sliced bologna.

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Comments (11)


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  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    This wont be a problem
    August 14, 2012 8:18 am
    When Romney/Ryan are elected we won't need these type of articles.The economy will pick right up instantly on the"Hope" that real change for a better business climate has come.
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    You guys have some wood choppin' to do, Mr. Spins
    August 14, 2012 3:46 pm
    Fox News shows Romney down by 9 points. Or did a couple of days ago.

    http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/08/10/obama-widens-polling-lead-including-9-point-advantage-in-fox-news-survey?s_cid=rss:obama-widens-polling-lead-including-9-point-advantage-in-fox-news-survey

    The normal retort when your guy is dragging badly and sadly is to criticize the poll as "biased". Not sure whether the Fox poll was biased or not, but if it was it is unlikely that it would have been slanted to favor Obama.

    A lot of people are waiting to learn why we should vote *for* Romney, instead of merely against Obama.

    We don't need to get America "shopping again." We need to get America working again. We need a day's work to once again earn a day's pay. People who are asked to work harder and longer should be compensated, not paid less and stripped of benefits and told to "shut up, just be grateful in this economy that you get to work at all."

    Rebuild the middle class. That's where the critical mass for consumption can be found. Simply making the rich richer isn't going to create enough demand. There aren't enough rich people to create sufficient demand to employ a nation of otherwise poor people, even if the rich were spending every dime every year in the US and never hiding it offshore or investing it to create poverty wage jobs in third world countries.

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  • kata wrote...
    polls
    August 14, 2012 4:01 pm
    http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/08/09/rel7b3.pdf

    http://www.ipsos-na.com/download/pr.aspx?id=11840

    http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/presidential-swing-states-%28fl-oh-and-pa%29/release-detail?ReleaseID=1781

    In case anyone wants to skip the spin.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Why ask, Dave ? Have you lost faith in the Wizard ?
    August 14, 2012 8:42 am
    Didn't Oz tell us a year or two ago that unemployment checks were better for the economy than actual jobs ?

    Bologna ? ---- Yup --- LOTS of bologna. ... And no matter how you slide it, bologna isn't steak.

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  • kata wrote...
    for the most part
    August 14, 2012 8:48 am
    coupons encourage bad eating habits. Most of them are for processed, high fat, high salt items. Seldom do you see a store coupon for a pound of flour or red wine vinegar. Much less apples or carrots. You're better off roasting a little extra chicken for dinner and saving the rest for chicken salad or sliced chicken for your sammiches rather than that high nitrite emulsified meat you call bologna. *bleh*
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  • rational wrote...
    Marketing
    August 14, 2012 10:25 am
    Just discover the concept of marketing Dave?
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  • The Chuckster wrote...
    Bologna is good now because Daves man crush is in office
    August 14, 2012 10:26 am
    Bologna goooooooddddddd. Goverment. Gooooodddddd Biden was right when he said the 2008 election came down to a 3 letter word......J......O......B......S. Jobs! That nuanced. Obama has been to 57 states . Chris Matthews gets a thrill up his leg when O talks. Romney is a animal abusing tax cheat felon who killed a steel workers wife. I am a tolerant lib. I watch MSNbC all day . The stimulus bill kept unemployment under 8%. Dave was in the kingdome when the Griffeys went back to back even though it happened in Anaheim , Ca. I love goverment and the messiah Obama
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  • The Chuckster wrote...
    Biden
    August 14, 2012 11:15 am
    "They want to put you back in chains" Unbelievable. There is your modern day democrat party ladies and gentlemen
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  • Fuego wrote...
    I don't mind..
    August 14, 2012 12:18 pm
    the coupon marketing but I'm getting tired of telling the Safeway cashier that I don't want to round up .38 for "charity of the month".
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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    About the only place you can be anonymous anymore...
    August 14, 2012 3:34 pm
    is if you want to post non-stop nasty remarks, tell lies, and spew negative energy on a comment board.

    Sure can't do it when you shop, unless you want to pay *extra* for the privilege. That butter that's marked at $1.99? That's the "club price" or the "price for preferred shoppers." Give us your information so we can create a profile for you, or we will charge you 25% more for your groceries. [You don't really save anything by joining the club or carrying the discount card- you just get to pay the real price instead of getting severely hosed].

    There have been some wonderful advantages introduced with technology, but there have certainly been abuses as well. Reducing everybody to a digital commodity, with shopping habits sold to the highest bidder, and then the next highest bidder, and then the bidder after that, and all the way down to the lowest bidder in the end is certainly one of the abuses.

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  • kata wrote...
    Chuck...
    August 14, 2012 4:02 pm
    you have become what you hunt.
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