Albertsons’ loyalty program is flourishing as its membership continues to grow steadily over the years.
That growth has coincided with efforts by the grocery company, which runs banners such as Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Acme, to elevate its rewards offerings. In recent years, grocers have placed more emphasis on their loyalty programs to help convey that they are on customers’ side amid high food prices.
Albertsons’ loyalty program had 25.4 million at the end of fiscal 2020 and saw an additional 4.5 million members the following year, ending FY 2021 with 29.9 million members, according to the grocer’s annual reports.
In mid-2021 Albertsons replaced its “Just for U” loyalty program with a revamped offering with a new range of deals and rewards for shoppers and also rolled out a new mobile app that combined access to its refreshed loyalty program with its newly launched subscription service FreshPass.
A year later, CEO Vivek Sankaran told investors that loyalty is a key part of Albertsons’ “next phase of transformation” as the grocer seeks to retain customers.
“We want our customers to interact with us daily, not only to shop but sometimes to simply consume relevant content about food or plan meals or find information to inspire their wellbeing,” Sankaran told investors. “Our business model is pivoting to one that is loyalty-based, doubling down on our omnichannel engagement with customers beyond just transactions.”
Gamification is one strategy Albertsons linked with its loyalty program. The grocery company’s Flavor Adventure online game last summer let Albertsons’ banner-branded “for U” loyalty members play games on their desktop and mobile devices to unlock recipes, digital coupons, sweepstakes entries and prizes.
“We have achieved significant success with active participants in our loyalty program, which drives higher sales and customer retention,” Albertsons noted in its most recent annual report.
Albertsons’ loyalty program has seen steady growth in recent quarters
Starting with its second quarter of FY 2022, Albertsons stopped holding earnings calls due to its proposed merger with Kroger and began reporting its number of loyalty members during the company’s quarterly earnings results, providing a closer look at how the rewards program has grown. Since then, the grocer has recorded year-over-year increases between 15% to 17% each quarter for its number of customers who have signed up for the rewards program.
The grocer’s loyalty efforts have seemed to pay off. At the end of its most recent quarter, the grocer recorded 41.4 million members — a nearly 63% increase since the end of FY 2020, which was just prior to the “Just for U” refresh.
In April, Albertsons announced updates to streamline its loyalty program, which included converting to a points-based system, letting members earn points for two months instead of one, and allowing them to convert points to cash at checkout.
The program’s perks include letting people earn one point for every $1 spent on groceries and two points for every $1 spent on gift cards, redeem points for gas rewards, receive personalized deals, clip digital coupons and get a coupon for a free item every month.
Meanwhile, FreshPass, Albertsons’ paid membership program costing $99/year or $12.99/month, provides perks, such as free delivery on orders over $30 and double points on exclusive brand products.
