DISCUSSION
Will dropping double coupons and senior discounts cost Kroger customers?
Written by George Anderson
Source: Kroger
A decision by Kroger to drop double coupons and senior discounts along with a switch to lower everyday prices in its Nashville region is big news to customers who shop in stores affected by the new policy.
Promotional go-to’s such as coupon doubling, senior discounts and BOGO (buy one, get one) offers are commonly used by grocers that rely on a high/low pricing strategy to drive traffic and turns. Unfortunately, these very same practices often train customers to shop for promotions, putting further margin strain on the supermarkets.
Kroger is positioning the move as a way for more customers — beyond seniors and cherry-pickers — to benefit from lower prices The new policy will go into effect on March 15 and affect 96 stores in parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. Other Kroger divisions in Atlanta and Memphis have previously dropped double coupons. Alabama stores in the Nashville region have also discontinued double coupons.
“Only a very small percentage of our customers double coupon,” Melissa Eads, a Kroger spokesperson, told The Tennessean. “And with the increase in digital coupons, not as many people use paper coupons any more. They are just so much easier and digital coupons have never been doubled.”
The Nashville region previously cut its senior discount, available on Wednesdays, from 10 percent to five percent in 2014. The program, which is available to anyone 60 years old and up, matched Publix, which continues to offer the perk to older shoppers.