Checking In at Green Hills

MICHAEL GARRY

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Since launching its mobile program on Foursquare last November, Green Hills, one-store food retailer here, has attracted (as of late March) 65 shoppers who checked in 177 times seeking special deals.

"That’s wonderful for a grocery store,” said Andrea Reynolds, Green Hills’ director of marketing. “If we were a bar, though, it would be pretty low.”

Moreover, though only one of the 65 Foursquare shoppers was new to Green Hills, 30 were shoppers who had not come to the store in three months or more, she noted.

Green Hills is among the food retailers who are exploring check-in, location-based mobile phone services such as Foursquare, Facebook Deals and Yelp, among others.

Green Hills runs two specials through Foursquare that are “turned on and off periodically,” said Reynolds. The introductory check-in offer is $5 off an order of at least $10. “We made it a very sweet offer to see how many people were doing this,” said Reynolds.

The Foursquare “mayor,” who checks in the most over 60 days, receives a free loaf of the store’s freshly made, preservative-free artisan bread, which retails from $2.99 to $3.99. Four shoppers have earned this distinction so far. Green Hills is sticking with the current offers until interest in them tapers off.

Green Hills has also accumulated more than 1,300 “likes” on Facebook; as of late March, 61 had checked in for deals, which are offered every other month.

To redeem their offers, shoppers need to swipe their Green Hills loyalty card, enabling the store to track who is receiving the specials. Individuals who are new to the store need to sign up for a card.

Reynolds pointed out that only 14% of Green Hills shoppers have smart phones, which limits the number of check-ins to the store. But shoppers who check in via Facebook generally make that known to the friends to whom they are linked. Foursquare also shares check-in information with others.

The only challenge Reynolds has faced in implementing Foursquare and Facebook Deals is maintenance. “You need to train somebody to pay attention to their existence daily,” she said. Cashiers also have to be instructed on how to handle redemptions.