Giant Food incentivizes customers with store-brand rewards

Giant Food is giving loyalty program members the incentive to trade points for private-label items.

Under a new promotion, the Giant Flexible Rewards program is now enabling customers to redeem their loyalty points for popular store-brand products at lower point requirements. Redemptions for the participating items will offered for 50, 75 or 100 Flexible Rewards points, an average discount of 50% to 75% versus the typical redemption value for grocery savings, Landover, Md.-based Giant said yesterday in announcing the promo.

Store-brand products featured in the Flexible Rewards promotion range from staples such as bread, milk and bottled water to bacon, frozen vegetables, mandarin oranges, romaine lettuce and shredded cheese. Giant noted that the initiative brings another value option in everyday shopping.

“Delivering value to our customers is one of our highest priorities at Giant, and this new promotion program within Flexible Rewards is one way we can offer customers more savings on the products they purchase regularly,” according to Ryan Draude, director of loyalty at Giant Food. “We are thrilled to be serving over 1 million Flexible Rewards members and look forward to continuing to deliver competitive value offerings to our loyal customers.”

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The Flexible Rewards store-brand promotion runs through Dec. 31. Eligible products can be redeemed once weekly, and members can redeem points for products in stores or on the Giant Food mobile app. Giant said the promo marks the grocer reaching a milestone of serving 1 million Flexible Rewards program members and winning “Best-In-Class” at last month’s 2022 Loyalty360 Awards.

Rolled out in 2020, Giant Flexible Rewards allows shoppers to earn points for grocery and gas savings and special rewards via everyday purchases in stores and online.

Giant Flexible Rewards enables customers earn points for grocery and gas savings and special rewards by shopping at Giant stores or online at giantfood.com. Members collect points through qualifying purchases, with each dollar spent earning one point, and more points can earned via purchases of products featured in weekly special offers.

Part of Ahold Delhaize USA, Giant operates 164 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. Its retail operations also include 153 pharmacies, 92 PNC Banks and 27 Starbucks locations as well as 160 Giant Pickup click-and-collect sites. Online grocery delivery via the Giant Delivers service is available in all of the grocer’s markets.

Giant’s store-brand rewards promo comes as grocery retailers are trying to provide more ways to convey value to shoppers being squeezed by ongoing high food prices. The food-at-home CPI for August climbed 13.5% year over year, topping the 13.1% rise in July and marking the biggest 12-month gain since the period through March 1979, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. On a monthly basis, the food-at-home CPI edged up 0.7% in August, compared with a 1.3% uptick in July and representing the first increase below 1% since April.

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With news of high grocery prices peppering the headlines, many U.S. shoppers think food price inflation is higher than it actually is. Research released yesterday by customer data science firm dunnhumby found that Americans believe food-at-home inflation is up 22.8% year over year, more than 9 percentage points higher than the latest CPI reading. That has pushed U.S. grocery shoppers to cast a wider net to reel in available savings. For example, dunnhumby’s research showed that 55% of consumers shop with retailers who provide rewards, 48% identify themselves to redeem rewards and 41% redeem coupons or deals from store loyalty programs — all up 3% since the previous April/May research wave.

Giant’s use of its store brands as a reward also reflects consumers’ increased affinity for private labels as a path to savings amid elevated grocery pricing. The Supermarket News 2022 Center Store Trends Survey revealed that 87% of grocery retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and marketers polled said customers are trading down to private labels and store brands. Similarly, 69% of respondents reported that private brands now make up a larger portion of the customer shopping basket.