Associated Wholesale Grocers studies digital coupon effectiveness

Associated Wholesale Grocers is partnering with the University of Illinois Gies School of Business on a research project to study the effectiveness of digital coupons on shopper behaviors. 

Associated Wholesale Grocers said that the insights gained from the partnership will be incorporated into the future analysis of its digital coupon strategy.

“By allowing the students to work with real anonymized data, they are exposed to the complexities surrounding the grocery industry and gain real-world experience before entering the workforce, said Kate Favrow, AWG brands director of marketing and brand development and a U of I graduate. “On the flip side, we gain new perspectives … insights and recommendations that come from their analysis work,” Favrow said.

In January 2022, the relationship started with three cohorts of students seeking master’s degrees in data analytics. They were given five years of digital coupon redemption data from the cooperative food wholesaler, including recent transaction data from seven of its consenting retailers. 

The goal is for the students’ findings to guide the Associated Wholesale Grocers’ private-label digital coupon strategy by looking at whether digital coupons and discounts are associated with a change in private brand purchasing behavior.

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Considering the size of the data set the students spent months of data cleansing, goal setting, and analysis. The findings revealed a variety of consumer behaviors and exposed areas in need of improvement through more analytical focus. 

For example, the redemption and transaction analysis concluded: