Shopper Alert: Price May Drop for You Alone By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD August 9, 2012
It used to be that with dedication and a good pair of scissors, one grocery shopper could get the same coupons - and cheap prices - as another. Now going to the grocery store is becoming a lot less egalitarian. At a Safeway in Denver, a 24-pack of Refreshe bottled water costs $2.71 for Jennie Sanford, a project manager. For Emily Vanek, a blogger, the price is $3.69. The difference? The vast shopping data Safeway maintains on both women through its loyalty card program. Ms. Sanford has a history of buying Refreshe brand products, but not its bottled water, while Ms. Vanek, a Smartwater partisan, said she was unlikely to try Refreshe. So Ms. Sanford gets the nudge to put another Refreshe product into her grocery cart, with the hope that she will keep buying it, and increase the company's sales of bottled water. A Safeway Web site shows her the lower price, which is applied when she swipes her loyalty card at checkout. Safeway added the personalization program to its stores this summer. For now, it is creating personalized offers, but it says it has the capability to adjust prices based on shoppers' habits and may add that feature. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/business/supermarkets-try-customizing-prices-for-shoppers.html _______________________________________________ Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a "Thank you" if you like this post. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
