Burd Sees Defensive Value in 'Just For U'

SN STAFF

NEW YORK — Safeway also has benefitted from using its "Just For U" digital platform it as a defensive tool to win back customers from competitors, Steve Burd, chairman, president and chief executive officer, told the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference here Thursday.

"Just For U" is an online program offering consumers personalized offers based on their shopping history that Safeway is testing in Chicago, Northern California and Hawaii.

To illustrate his point, Burd cited a competitor with a strong perishables offering who opened a store a block from one of Safeway's high-volume locations and took 7% to 8% of Safeway's volume.

Of Safeway's 30,000 customers at the store, Burd said, 7,000 accounted for 90% of the demand decline at the store, including 2,000 who were "Just for U" customers — a number that would have been much higher, he added, "if we were marketing this vehicle hard, which we are not. Then we did a mailing [stressing "Just for U"] to the balance of the 5,000, and in 10 days we cut our loss to the new competitor by 70%.

"So while 'Just For U' is designed as a vehicle to go after people who are occasional shoppers — to embed more loyalty in those that are already loyal — it is also a remarkable tool for bringing back business. So that's the value of the digital platform, and when you marry that with the mobile capability we will be adding, I think you have something very powerful."