OKLAHOMA CITY — From Nabisco cookies to 2-liter bottles of Coca-Cola, a wide variety of grocery items have been featured on the digital grocery deal site Aisle50. Yet the deeply discounted products are not the only things shoppers buy when they redeem their deals.
At least that’s what Phil Payment, vice president of marketing for Homeland Stores, has seen since the Oklahoma City-based chain launched Aisle50 through its One Card loyalty card program.
“It’s increasing trips to our stores, and of course it’s turning into bigger baskets,” Payment told SN. “Sales per customer are up for those with Aisle50 products” in their baskets.
Shoppers get the deals through Aisle50’s website, www.aisle50.com, where featured items are discounted anywhere from 30% to 60%.
Using a credit card, they pay for the products featured on the site and the deal is then loaded onto their loyalty cards. Customers pick up the promoted products on their next trip to the supermarket and are charged nothing for the prepaid items at checkout. Stores are reimbursed by the manufacturer so there is no cost to the retailer.
Read more: Homeland to Offer Groupon-Style Deals
A number of Center Store products have been popular on Aisle50. The 2-liter bottles of Coke, which are free, are probably the top product redeemed by shoppers, Payment said. Homeland stores also sold close to 600 Field’s frozen pecan pies as a result of a BOGO deal, which the retailer initially offered on Aisle50 before Thanksgiving.
Shoppers seem to love the discount program. Since introducing it in September, Homeland has seen thousands of deals redeemed at the company’s stores.
“It’s digital, it’s easy to download the deals, and the deals are good,” said Payment, explaining the program’s popularity.
Other recent offers featured on Aisle50 were buy-one, get-one-free deals on packages of Starbucks coffee, Café Escapes K-cup packs of coffee and Bertolli Classics Meals.
“Shop ‘n Save has seen a strong response from our shoppers on deals for brand-name products offered by Aisle50,” said Peter Bazanos, e-marketing manager for Supervalu, which supplies the Shop ‘n Save stores, based in Pittsburgh. “The variety of deals Aisle50 provides, from bundles of products, individual items, food items to health and beauty offers have given Shop ‘n Save customers a great deal of choices on how to save money.”
Aisle50 recently promoted a bundle of items to make chili for dinner. Shoppers could save 40% if they purchased two cans of Del Monte diced tomatoes, a can of Bush’s Best Chili Beans, a can of Contadina tomato paste and a pound of Homeland or Country Mart’s store brand ground beef. In a separate deal, shoppers who purchased three bottles of McCormick spices to season the chili saved an additional 40%.
“It’s hard to do a deal on a 99-cent can of diced tomatoes,” said Christopher Steiner, one of the founders of Chicago-based Aisle50. By combining products, “we get people to use all these products together and we move private-label and consumer packaged goods all at once.”
Other retailers in the Aisle50 program include Lowes Foods, Just Save and Country Mart Stores.
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