Supervalu Tests PBT Personalized Marketing

Supervalu's Shop 'n Save has implemented PBT's personal marketing platform SmartShop, which will utilize the unique application to to improve its incentive marketing program, a core strategy for grocery stores.

Three Pittsburgh-area locations of the grocery store chain are testing a new program which will be called "Shop 'n Save Personalized Perks" based on a software application established by a San Francisco-based firm called Pay By Touch.

While most loyalty card programs offer customers sales prices on a variety of different products each week, the new Shop 'n Save Perks Card provides cardholders with discounts on products they buy most. This results in huge savings in terms of hit and miss mass marketing.

The program seeks to build upon each shopper's preferences, offering them customized discounts based on their regular buying habits.

To use the program, shoppers scan their cards upon entering the store and receive a printout of products available for sale to them. When they buy those items, they use their cards for discounts.

"With Shop 'n Save Personalized Perks, shoppers can get extra savings on their favorite products right as they walk into the store," said Bill Lipsky, Director of Merchandising for Shop 'n Save, a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based wholesaler SUPERVALU Inc. "It's yet another way that we are delivering additional value to our shoppers."

There is no word as of yet as to how long Shop 'n Save will choose to test the program or if it will roll it out at its more than 20 other area stores.

A spokeswoman for Pay by Touch said the three Pittsburgh-area stores are the first SUPERVALU grocery locations to use the program by in the country.

In other news, Hebert's Supermarkets announced that Paycheck Secure(R), a biometric check cashing service, is available at all three Hebert's locations.

Paycheck Secure, powered by Pay By Touch, uses a simple finger scan to authenticate customers' identities to cash payroll or government checks. Paycheck Secure first was implemented in the Hebert's of Henderson store in March 2006, and now the retailer has expanded the service to Hebert's Supermarket and Hebert's Superette, both located in downtown Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

"This is the best check cashing system we have had yet," said Ken Mouton, general manager of Hebert's Supermarkets. "It made sense to expand the service not only to provide more convenience for our customers, but also to help prevent check fraud across all of our stores."

Signing up to cash checks using Paycheck Secure is quick and easy. Customers simply provide a photo ID, two finger scans, and have a digital photo taken right in the store. Once enrolled, customers can quickly and securely cash payroll checks with a quick finger scan at any Hebert's store.

"Paycheck Secure offers a unique way for Hebert's customers to cash their checks rapidly and securely," said John Rogers, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Pay By Touch. "The service also helps merchants like Hebert's dramatically reduce fraud by leveraging biometric technology to verify customers' identities."