Kroger to end Visa acceptance at Smiths April 3

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Re: Kroger to end Visa acceptance at Smiths April 3

Post by CalItalian »

Kroger has reversed it's decision at both Smith's and Foods Co.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kroger-vis ... over-fees/
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Re: Kroger to end Visa acceptance at Smiths April 3

Post by storewanderer »

I wonder if Kroger got what it wanted, or if they realized this was going to not be a good strategy to have during the holidays. Also this is a busy season for pharmacies in the coming flu months, I wonder if they found this impacted the pharmacy operation as well.

I will miss all those $5 off $25 app and Catalina coupons, 6x-8x fuel points on gift cards app and Catalina coupons, and various other promotions Smiths was running the past six months during this period of non-Visa acceptance. It was pretty clear they were needing to drive up business. The stores in my area seem as busy as ever, but the promotions being done led me to believe they were having issues somewhere.
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Re: Kroger to end Visa acceptance at Smiths April 3

Post by Alpha8472 »

I suspect that Kroger was losing so much money that they accepted Visa's terms. Kroger was hoping that other supermarkets would join this boycott and together they could get Visa to lower the credit card fees.

The other supermarkets used this to their advantage and gained more sales.

Did Kroger get a reduction in fees? Perhaps not. Visa knows that they can hold out and win. Visa makes so much money. Kroger can't hold out forever.
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Re: Kroger to end Visa acceptance at Smiths April 3

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: October 31st, 2019, 5:29 pm I suspect that Kroger was losing so much money that they accepted Visa's terms. Kroger was hoping that other supermarkets would join this boycott and together they could get Visa to lower the credit card fees.

The other supermarkets used this to their advantage and gained more sales.

Did Kroger get a reduction in fees? Perhaps not. Visa knows that they can hold out and win. Visa makes so much money. Kroger can't hold out forever.
We will never know. Maybe they got a reduction in fees. But they seem to be being very quiet about that they accept Visa again. They were sure loud about how they were going to stop accepting it. Sort of like when you lose a fight and go into a corner and quietly lick your wounds.

I suspect it will take some effort to get back lost customers. I know Raleys and Safeway have greatly benefited from this as far as their share of my grocery bill since the second Smiths stopped accepting Visa was when Chase Freedom Visa had 5% back at grocery stores for the next 3 months... so I definitely started looking elsewhere. Not too happy with Safeway and frankly when shopping there really wanted to just go back to Smiths (though more recently, the price cuts they've done here this month are pretty good) but Raleys I have been quite happy with quality, center store mix, and ad pricing. The biggest thing I miss about Smiths is the high assortment of private label items at reasonable prices. I don't miss the lousy bakery, complicated "app" offers, ugly store decor, spotty produce, and unprofessional employee appearance due to lack of uniforms.
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Re: Kroger to end Visa acceptance at Smiths April 3

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