Many successful stores say that the key to operating at a profit is to develop a loyal following. Each of the large kosher independents said they depend on such a base to maintain a healthy profit margin.
Studies have shown that the largest supermarket chains invest a great deal into shopper loyalty programs but the results show that the return may not be as great as one would expect.
On average, the Supermarket News study showed shoppers return to the same supermarket twice a month.
According to some of the independent kosher supermarket stores, it is almost double in their stores, but they attribute the increased frequency to the weekly Shabbos shopping.
Said one: “Yes, we are all creatures of habit and many of our shoppers come into the store on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and more or less follow the same aisle route as the week before.”
This is especially true for busy housewives who frequently mimic the past week’s fare with a few differences. For one, many of the shoppers entertain, either children or guests and have to adjust their shopping lists.
Second, they tend to adjust their own orders depending on their social commitments. “A shopper who has been invited to a Bar Mitzvah lunch will order less than perhaps a week before.”
Loyalty, it seems, has its limits. Increasingly, some price-conscious shoppers are splitting their purchases between items they like in one store to deeply discounted prices in another store.
Leah, a 52-year old bookkeeper, buys all her meats at Pomegranate but frequents the nearby Mountain Foods for everything else. Some marketers say that the kosher independents have not invested as much as they should have to increase and maintain shoppers loyal to the store. They say that the stores rarely communicate with their core shoppers, missing out on one of the most important programs a supermarket should support.
1) Groceries traditionally have a very low profit margin. 2) In other places than NY groceries advertise weekly specials. These are often distributor or manufacturer originated and similr sales on the same items may be at slightly differednt prices at different stores. 3) In many markets certain items are featured as tie in to national or local celbrations or seasons. Some might be on sale but many are not. Large chains have house brAnds which might be less expensive but are often the same as name brands. 4) Although an item has a “Kosher” name brand it could be identical… Read more »
Idealistic and sincere, but highly misguided.
The last line about how increased sales and revenue will make them happy to pass along whatever savings. Yeah right, sorry but not in this neighborhood. It’s every man for himself here. A rat race and a free-for-all. Sorry to tell you, but CH is the jungle. The only reason we stay here is because the Rebbe gave us clear instructions years ago not to leave CH and to keep working. And trust me, my wife and I have no shortage of work to try to strengthen the schuneh
To those who penny pinch I understand your logic behind it completely but look at the penny from the other side. You go to the big markets and split up your shopping between 2-3 different stores (which is unlikely) you go expecting the small shops to lower Their prices but not thinking about the work that goes in order to lower prices. First you need to be able to buy in bulk ( like the big markets) however because you will not always be able to afford nor have the space to buy such quantity, your prices will stay the… Read more »
If your buying ten packs of already made babaganush and hummus while you can save 10x by making them from scratch then yes be price conciuous. Also with Bread. Make one big batch every week or so that save tons of $$$. Also instead of buying individual packs of cold cuts why not get a full 5lb cold cut roll of slice it yourself. Same thing goes with fish and meats. Bulk is always better.
absolutely agree with this article. Customer service in almost non existent in supermarkets. This has been my soapbox for years. I no longer care about loyalty to my local supermarkets. If I can get it cheaper I will. I’m tired of being mistreated and being expected to take garbage. We live in an area where there is a lot of competition. You want customers, treat them nicely!!
Hard to say no to those prices
There’s nothing wrong with splitting up shopping between two or more different stores; for one, some stores don’t have all the produce a person may need for food or even appliances, and second of all some stores have cheaper prices on certain products. Nothing disloyal about that! As long as a person is not returning products every other day because they found a cheaper option, or whatever the case might be, there shouldn’t be a problem with it. And, as it said in the article, if the supermarkets want to have more loyal customers, they should try to maybe cheapen… Read more »
We have been doing this for years. If the kosher markets sold the items that we buy from the regular markets at the same price we could save time and just shop at the kosher market.
Many of us have to stretch every dollar to support our households…..so?
Can’t wait for bingo crown heights to open
Owners and management should consider this. Many of these programs are avaible in the outside velt