‘Just for U’ Propels Safeway

UPGRADED VERSION

Safeway launched “Just for U” at Vons stores in Southern California in February, where the number of users has already exceeded the numbers in Northern California, Burd said.

The upgraded version was introduced across Northern California and Chicago at the beginning of March, with two more divisions to be added in April and two more in May, including Safeway’s East Coast stores.

Benefits include the ability “to generate a much stronger consumer response, which translates into much higher sales,” Burd said.

“We can save on markdown dollars by concentrating the spend on knowing what items drive incremental sales.”

A CPG company can offer coupons targeted exclusively to Safeway customers, Burd noted. The chain dealt with only eight to 10 major CPG companies in developing the program, “but the real potential is, we haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of the upside there.”

“You can do a trial offer, and normally the re-purchase rate would run anywhere from 2% to 15%, but our data shows we actually have a 52% repurchase after trials because the offer is targeted.

“And for products that consumers have stopped buying, when a CPG company is able to remind them just how good their product is, it has resulted in 50% repurchase rates.

“Historically 50% of CPG growth comes from new-product introductions, and we think we have the absolute best new-product introduction vehicle.”