Albertsons losses continue, comp sales fall

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kr.abs.swy
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Re: Albertsons losses continue, comp sales fall

Post by kr.abs.swy »

From a privacy standpoint, I'm not a fan of the club card programs. But the supermarkets amass massive databases of information about their customers using these programs. So to say that they could get rid of the club card program "at no great cost" is probably not accurate, especially given that at this point they have built up databases about their customers over 20 years. If they know that their big spenders tend to purchase a particular item, they might keep it around even if sales levels wouldn't otherwise justify it. If they see that someone that used to spend $150 each week hasn't been by for a month, they send a Just 4 U coupon their way. Again, I don't necessarily like this type of program, but the value of a 20+ year database of customer behavior is massive.
pseudo3d wrote:
reymann wrote:cerberus needs to start having a hard look at streamlining albertsons and safeway when it comes to pricing and the club card. i think they should do away with the club card at safeway and keep closing deadweight stores. they also need to have a vision for the future with safeway. save mart could keep eating into their market share in norcal as they continue to give foodmaxx a stronger presence.
Oh definitely. Getting rid of the club card itself from Safeway would do a lot for the company at no great cost (especially if the club card and J4U were merged). I have more doubts about FoodMaxx in NorCal, as Save Mart doesn't seem to be doing particularly well. If anything, Raleys and maybe WinCo would seem to be the ones eating NorCal's lunch, not Save Mart.
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Re: Albertsons losses continue, comp sales fall

Post by pseudo3d »

kr.abs.swy wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:
reymann wrote:cerberus needs to start having a hard look at streamlining albertsons and safeway when it comes to pricing and the club card. i think they should do away with the club card at safeway and keep closing deadweight stores. they also need to have a vision for the future with safeway. save mart could keep eating into their market share in norcal as they continue to give foodmaxx a stronger presence.
Oh definitely. Getting rid of the club card itself from Safeway would do a lot for the company at no great cost (especially if the club card and J4U were merged). I have more doubts about FoodMaxx in NorCal, as Save Mart doesn't seem to be doing particularly well. If anything, Raleys and maybe WinCo would seem to be the ones eating NorCal's lunch, not Save Mart.
From a privacy standpoint, I'm not a fan of the club card programs. But the supermarkets amass massive databases of information about their customers using these programs. So to say that they could get rid of the club card program "at no great cost" is probably not accurate, especially given that at this point they have built up databases about their customers over 20 years. If they know that their big spenders tend to purchase a particular item, they might keep it around even if sales levels wouldn't otherwise justify it. If they see that someone that used to spend $150 each week hasn't been by for a month, they send a Just 4 U coupon their way. Again, I don't necessarily like this type of program, but the value of a 20+ year database of customer behavior is massive.
I'm not selling to get rid of it by any means, but not require it for purchasing everyday items, which is what Kroger and the Safeway banners do.
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Re: Albertsons losses continue, comp sales fall

Post by BillyGr »

There are a couple other benefits to the cards that may not always occur to people:

One would be the many programs out there that can get record of purchases automatically to give out rebates/credits/points or similar. They do work with stores without a card, but then require you to either get a photo/scan of the receipt and email that, or they will use the non card "numbers" (like Shaw's/Acme does for their digital coupons).

A second would be those e-coupons themselves - the stores in our area give out quite a few, sometimes for free items, which they wouldn't be able to do if they didn't have a way (the card) to limit how many each customer could get cheap/free.

Finally, the stores with cards usually have a set up where if an item should be recalled they will call/email you to let you know, which is helpful, rather than having to happen to catch it on a news/site and then trying to match info with the package.
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Re: Albertsons losses continue, comp sales fall

Post by storewanderer »

And these reasons are probably why the Safeway card program remains in place and is being expanded into legacy Albertsons regions. There is value to the data when used well.

Sure, they are not issuing a physical "club card" but signing people up for J4U via a telephone number is the exact same thing. There is a club card number being linked to that phone number. If you had a physical Safeway card you could take that card in and use it for the J4U at Albertsons, too.
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