EDWARDS CITES ALLOWANCES IN NEW YORK ADS

RICHARD TURCSIK

NEW YORK -- The Edwards Super Food Stores chain in this market has been alerting consumers that it is passing down manufacturer allowances to them "penny for penny" through its weekly circulars and in-store "Bonus Buy" shelf tags.

As a result of the program, Edwards is advertising Bonus Buys with unusual prices in its circulars, such as 88 cents for a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi, $4.05 for a 128-ounce container of Arizona iced tea, $1.37 for a 29-ounce can of Libby's sliced peaches or pears and 81 cents for a 10-ounce bag of Gold Medal brownie mix.

The chain, a division of Ahold USA, Atlanta, is including its Finast brand private label with the Bonus Buys.

In one recent ad, Finast quick oats were $1.85 for a 42-ounce canister. In addition, a 48-ounce bottle of Finast vegetable or corn oil was $1.97, a 12-ounce squeeze bottle of Finast honey was $1.68 and a 15-ounce can of Finast beef ravioli was 85 cents.

The orange and yellow "Bonus Buy" shelf tags tell the shopper how much she is saving and how long the savings will be offered.

"Bonus Buys are extra savings that last up to a month," a headline in Edwards' circular touted. "No shoppers card needed. No coupons to clip. No limits. Simply buy what you want when you want."

In addition, the Bonus Buy savings are totaled and clearly marked on the cash register receipt.

Officials at Edwards corporate offices in Carlisle, Pa., did not return telephone calls seeking comments on the program, but local observers told SN that Edwards' pricing policies are typical of an everyday-low-price operator.

"The difficulty of determining the effectiveness of the program is that Edwards is truly not an EDLP operator here. They are somewhere in between," one New Jersey observer noted.

"That hybrid approach, which vacillates to whatever they feel they need to do at whatever time to target a competitor, will lead to different approaches," the observer said.

While Edwards' passing along manufacturers' allowances is a practice the chain has used for sometime, it is a relatively new phenomenon to spell it out and explain the manufacturers' allowances to the public, he said.

Observers said Edwards is using Bonus Buys to compete against locked-in prices at ShopRite and Grand Union and Deep Cut prices at Pathmark, but unlike a "true" EDLP operator, Edwards is still heavily advertising and offering weekly sales in its circulars.

"In a high-low market like metropolitan New York, a true EDLP program simply will not work," one observer said.