Minyard Sun Fresh Market is tapping a mobile shopper engagement platform to roll out digital weekly circulars, personalized deals, product information and rewards to customers’ smartphones to ramp up the in-store experience.

The grocer has teamed up with Blue Calypso to develop the platform and simplify the shopping experience for time-strapped guests at its bricks-and-mortar locations. More supermarkets are discovering the power of mobile in being able to send shoppers in-store maps, customized deals and promotional alerts, all of which have massive potential to bump up sales.

“We believe it’s critical for all bricks-and-mortar retailers to evolve to support a mobile shopper engagement experience that resembles more of today’s online shopping journey,” said Andrew Levi, CEO of Blue Calypso, Dallas, TX. “Today’s shopper has become accustomed to data-driven purchases – a clear understanding of product information, deals/offers, comparative pricing, product reviews, complementary and alternative products, etc.

“They also expect to be welcomed on their shopping journey – gone are the days of anonymous shopping and people have come to embrace this,” he said. “The grocery segment is highly competitive and presents a complex path to purchase with many products and options for grocery shopping.

“Further, grocery shoppers are local to stores (they live close by) but have options for where they spend their money. Grocery shoppers are also more value-based and price-aware.”

Driving store traffic
The shopper marketing program was also created in a bid to ramp up in-store traffic and sales. Consumers do not need to download an application to access Minyard Sun Fresh Market’s mobile offerings, as Blue Calypso uses an app-less platform and SMS codes to drive consumers to a dedicated microsite.

If consumers feel comfortable in knowing that their experience at a Minyard Sun Fresh Market location will not take long, thanks to the personalized content available, they will be much more likely to pop in-store rather than rely on an online grocery marketer.

Grocers can more easily target consumers on their path-to-purchase, therefore handing them the ability to drive last-minute purchases. If customers are nearing the cashier line, a grocery app or site can easily send a push notification alerting them of sale items near checkout, or display the user’s shopping list to ensure that no product was missed.

This in turn adds more relevancy and value to the consumer. Minyard shoppers may also use email or text to share top offers with their friends and family.

“The retailer-delivered content is really only limited by the retailer’s desire to affect shopper behavior,” Mr. Levi said. “Common content includes: welcome messages, weekly store circulars, product deals/offers, social sharing, product information, product reviews, complimentary products, product locations, store locations and directions, and even seamless integration with inventory levels and e-commerce/POS.”

As beacon technology adoption becomes more widespread, customers will be able to expect to see more supermarket chains send targeted offers and messages.

For example, multinational retailer Carrefour has placed iBeacon networks in 28 of its hypermarket stores in Romania, pointing to the inevitable global rollout of personalized shopping experiences on mobile (see story).

Capturing valuable data
While consumers undoubtedly enjoy a slew of perks from grocer-branded mobile tools, the marketers themselves also benefit from the valuable customer data that shopper marketing platforms can pull and aggregate.

Blue Calypso is able to tap analytics such as location intelligence, content interaction and customer conversion. Retailers may also opt to learn more about their post-click engagements, foot traffic, demographics and shopping triggers – all of which offer significant aid in developing future mobile offerings as well as campaigns.

Shoppers at select Minyard Sun Fresh Markets will have access to these features, although the successful pilot has resulted in 10 additional stores added to the list of participating locations.

“We think the most exciting capability is front-door activation,” Mr. Levi said. “The ability to provide a mobile concierge-like shopping journey from the moment a shopper enters a store, driven by their desire for a more data-driven experience is powerful and compelling.

“We are excited about beacon enablement, and equally as excited about the future of NFC and its ability to power in-aisle shopper engagement.”

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York