Dive Brief:

• Southeastern Grocers plans to significantly increase the number of digital coupons and other personalized offers it delivers to shoppers this year.
• Through its partnership with Eagle Eye Solutions and Neptune Retail Solutions, the grocer will deliver more than 200 million personalized offers per month, according to a press release. The offers, including digital coupons and recommendations, will be automatically loaded into shoppers’ loyalty accounts and redeemable at checkout. 
• This is the third phase in Southeastern Grocers’ push to improve customer data analysis and personalized offers, beginning last summer with printing custom offers on shopper receipts.

Dive Insight:

Southeastern Grocers is ramping up its customized digital offers at a time when retaining shopper loyalty and fueling digital marketing platforms is critical.

The grocer enlisted Eagle Eye, a digital software company that specializes in personalized offers, in late 2019 and last summer announced that it had begun printing personalized offers on shoppers’ receipts. In September, the companies announced that they had teamed up with data science firm dunnhumby to deepen their understanding of shoppers. 

Now, Southeastern and Eagle Eye have joined up with digital marketing firm Neptune Retail Solutions to distribute personalized offers and target the grocer’s most profitable customers. The move comes as retailers are angling to keep shoppers spending more at stores and online as the end of the pandemic looms on the horizon. Southeastern, like other grocers, is also enhancing its digital marketing ecosystem, which seeks to monetize customer data and increase CPG trade spending.

As online shopping surges and more consumers use their smartphones while shopping, digital offers have increased while traditional incentives like paper coupons have declined. According to Kantar Media data, the number of print coupons distributed in the first half of 2020 declined nearly 15% year-over-year. 

Southeastern Grocers has historically processed more than 50 million digital coupons per year, but said in this week's announcement it will significantly increase that amount.

Companies are adding discounts and coupons directly to shoppers’ loyalty accounts, which can increasingly be accessed through grocers’ apps. Retailers are also adding digital offers to their online platforms as shoppers deepen their engagement and look to save money through e-commerce.

Southeastern’s promotional push comes at a time when food retailers are boosting their promotional efforts following a pullback during the pandemic when companies feared overstimulating demand. The grocer is also investing heavily in its Winn-Dixie locations as it seeks to remain relevant in the highly competitive Southeast region. In January, the company postponed its push for a public offering, reportedly due to a lack of investor appetite.