Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

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storewanderer
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Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

Post by storewanderer »

In another move to make Fred Meyer more like a grocery store only chain and less like a multi department store, they are shifting their ad start day to Wednesday instead of Sunday.

This probably makes sense so their ad shows up at the same time as competitor ads, but Fred Meyer has run the ad starting on Sundays forever.

I also wonder if the better approach would be to run the food ad Wednesday, and run a non food ad on Sunday (that is what the shared P&L Smiths Marketplaces in Utah, the full size stores that are former Fred Meyers, used to do, not sure if they still do)... I am assuming that approach will at least be used during key holiday sales periods.
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Re: Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

Post by babs »

storewanderer wrote: April 7th, 2018, 11:40 pm In another move to make Fred Meyer more like a grocery store only chain and less like a multi department store, they are shifting their ad start day to Wednesday instead of Sunday.

This probably makes sense so their ad shows up at the same time as competitor ads, but Fred Meyer has run the ad starting on Sundays forever.

I also wonder if the better approach would be to run the food ad Wednesday, and run a non food ad on Sunday (that is what the shared P&L Smiths Marketplaces in Utah, the full size stores that are former Fred Meyers, used to do, not sure if they still do)... I am assuming that approach will at least be used during key holiday sales periods.
This likely has more to do with the dropping Sunday circulation of most newspapers. They're probably not reaching their target demographics. By sending it in the mail on Wednesday, they probably will have a much wider reach. Everyone is trying to find an alternative to the Sunday circular. I'm betting within 10 years there will no longer be a Sunday circular. The circulations numbers are dropping that fast. Once that happens, watch many newspapers go under.
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Re: Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

Post by jamcool »

If Fry’s ever went to all mail circulars the Arizona Republic would go under
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Re: Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

Post by SamSpade »

Since this change, I never receive Fred Meyer circulars in the (direct) mail. Still seeing QFC every week, though.

Out of curiosity, now that we're in "back to school" season, Fred Meyer still seems to be focused on food and "More Ways to Save.
Does this 'more ways to save' campaign really resonate? Those shoppers I know just continue to be angered they have to do so much work to stretch a budget.

Do that many folks fill their gas tanks up at Fred Meyer (or Shell)? It does seem that every location here has a fuel island or one a short drive nearby (with the exception of Stadium in downtown Portland and Hollywood in NE Portland).
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Re: Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: August 16th, 2019, 7:32 pm Since this change, I never receive Fred Meyer circulars in the (direct) mail. Still seeing QFC every week, though.

Out of curiosity, now that we're in "back to school" season, Fred Meyer still seems to be focused on food and "More Ways to Save.
Does this 'more ways to save' campaign really resonate? Those shoppers I know just continue to be angered they have to do so much work to stretch a budget.

Do that many folks fill their gas tanks up at Fred Meyer (or Shell)? It does seem that every location here has a fuel island or one a short drive nearby (with the exception of Stadium in downtown Portland and Hollywood in NE Portland).
That More Ways to Save is exactly what they are running at Smiths too, and I assume throughout most Kroger, Frys, Dillon, etc. banners. Most weekends have digital coupons for housewares. This week I have digital coupons for clothing and last week I had digital coupons for sporting goods. Keep in mind it is a 7 hour drive to the nearest Smiths Marketplace (Fred Meyer in Medford is closer).

That is what centralized marketing with zero focus on each region's stores, each region's customers, and each region's competitive environment gets you.

Ask the old Albertsons (the one that dissolved in 2006) and the old Safeway (the one that sold out to Albertsons) how centralized marketing approach worked out............

But it is very easy to stretch a budget over at WinCo.
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Re: Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

Post by arizonaguy »

storewanderer wrote: August 16th, 2019, 9:06 pm
SamSpade wrote: August 16th, 2019, 7:32 pm Since this change, I never receive Fred Meyer circulars in the (direct) mail. Still seeing QFC every week, though.

Out of curiosity, now that we're in "back to school" season, Fred Meyer still seems to be focused on food and "More Ways to Save.
Does this 'more ways to save' campaign really resonate? Those shoppers I know just continue to be angered they have to do so much work to stretch a budget.

Do that many folks fill their gas tanks up at Fred Meyer (or Shell)? It does seem that every location here has a fuel island or one a short drive nearby (with the exception of Stadium in downtown Portland and Hollywood in NE Portland).
That More Ways to Save is exactly what they are running at Smiths too, and I assume throughout most Kroger, Frys, Dillon, etc. banners. Most weekends have digital coupons for housewares. This week I have digital coupons for clothing and last week I had digital coupons for sporting goods. Keep in mind it is a 7 hour drive to the nearest Smiths Marketplace (Fred Meyer in Medford is closer).

That is what centralized marketing with zero focus on each region's stores, each region's customers, and each region's competitive environment gets you.

Ask the old Albertsons (the one that dissolved in 2006) and the old Safeway (the one that sold out to Albertsons) how centralized marketing approach worked out............

But it is very easy to stretch a budget over at WinCo.
I've noticed Fry's pricing (and even their ads) are not nearly as good as they were 2-3 years ago. Safeway almost always has lower egg prices (although some require Just 4 U) and I've noticed lower prices at Safeway for numerous other items as well. This More Ways to Save is going on at Fry's but the deals aren't there like they used to be and using the app to get deals is a pain in the butt.

Safeway / Albertsons (at least in Phoenix) is starting to be more competitive with everyone because the main competition (Fry's /Walmart) seems to have increased pricing and Bashas' was never really price competitive to begin with (except on some perimeter items).

WinCo is truly the only "low price" store in Phoenix these days (at least until Aldi opens).
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Re: Fred Meyer shifting ad start day to Wednesday (was Sunday)

Post by storewanderer »

arizonaguy wrote: August 17th, 2019, 7:37 pm
I've noticed Fry's pricing (and even their ads) are not nearly as good as they were 2-3 years ago. Safeway almost always has lower egg prices (although some require Just 4 U) and I've noticed lower prices at Safeway for numerous other items as well. This More Ways to Save is going on at Fry's but the deals aren't there like they used to be and using the app to get deals is a pain in the butt.

Safeway / Albertsons (at least in Phoenix) is starting to be more competitive with everyone because the main competition (Fry's /Walmart) seems to have increased pricing and Bashas' was never really price competitive to begin with (except on some perimeter items).

WinCo is truly the only "low price" store in Phoenix these days (at least until Aldi opens).
[/quote]

Up in Oregon, three different times in the past year, I definitely felt Safeway/Albertsons was competing very well against Fred Meyer. Many items were lower priced at Safeway/Albertsons and I felt their promotions were more in quantity and also more relevant to me as a customer. I also felt the quality of fresh departments at Safeway/Albertsons was better than Fred Meyer.

Different story back home with well run Smiths and extremely overpriced poorly run NorCal Safeway Stores (these Nevada Stores are operated like orphans; I am sure volumes are much lower than most of the stores in NorCal proper which seem to execute better).

Smiths has been running very strong ads the past couple of months (I think it is due to the Visa card situation) but earlier this year their ads were weak and regular prices were continually rising. Kroger has switched to zone pricing on milk, eggs, bread, and a handfull of other high frequency items so they will essentially price whatever surrounding stores are priced. So if the surrounding store they are price competing with is a Safeway, they will up their price to have the Safeway price. If the surrounding store is a Smart & Final or someone who undercuts on milk as a rule, they will drastically lower their price to meet that. This is different from the past when Kroger in a given market ran hot retails at every store every day on high frequency perishables like milk, eggs, bread, and I believe that old strategy was a real win for them in terms of luring customers away from Albertsons/Safeway 5-10 years ago. I think the current strategy is a loser because I never like prices being increased just because competitors are increasing prices...

Safeway has been increasing prices like gangbusters up here in NorCal Division the past month. Gallon of Value Corner Milk is 3.69, Bakery French Bread is 1.99, some stores still have dozen Value Corner Large Eggs at 2.99 (some did get them down to 1.69). Produce pricing is horrible and way above anywhere else. 2.49-3.99/lb for soft summer fruit peaches, nectarines, pluots, plums, etc. Mangos have been 1.99 (even the Manila ones) for weeks and sitting there rotting away; this week they finally went to $1 sale price on the green mangos but when Sprouts is 3/$1, even Scolaris 2/$1... still not a deal. Meat pricing is terrible (7.99/lb for 93% lean ground beef...?). I go there to buy some ad items, they are running some strong ads and I've spent more money at Safeway since April 4, 2019 than I have probably in the past 3 years combined, but I am not too happy with their store. I have really been trying to give this store my business but between quality issues, freshness issues, or pricing being way out of line compared to even Raleys, I find I leave with nothing beyond whatever ad items I had planned to go in for. I have had muitiple problems with expired product, poor service, and poorly trained employees out in Sparks. This store does not have near the customer traffic it once had and feels like it is in the process of dying; it looks great cosmetically- clean, stocked, and orderly, but once you shop it, you find it is a lifeless place with indifferent employees and poor product rotation (the surrounding Smiths, Sprouts, and Grocery Outlet Stores are very busy though). The paper towel dispenser in the men's restroom has been propped open now for 3 months because it doesn't dispense if it is closed and nobody cares or bothers to fix it (store has a male store director so this is absolutely something being seen by the store director and I am assuming various other management above who visits the store). The soap dispensers also are missing their outer covers (bottle of liquid directly visible) and again it has been this way for months and nobody cares. As I said this NorCal Division runs Nevada like orphan stores. Maybe it will change once they build the new Reno Store. I hope.
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