Dive Brief:

• Amid a brick-and-mortar revamp effort, Family Dollar is introducing an updated mobile app in October, the discount retailer announced Friday. 
• The app will feature a new interface and improved navigation. Shoppers can manage their coupons in the redesigned digital wallet, browse weekly ads and find products quickly thanks to intelligent searches. 
• In early 2024, the retailer plans to update its app again with personalization features, in-app e-commerce and more loyalty rewards, per the press release.

Dive Insight:

The rollout of Family Dollar’s new app is part of a digital overhaul of both the retailer and its sister company Dollar Tree, Bobby Aflatooni, chief information officer at Dollar Tree, Inc., said in a statement. The company is allocating resources toward improving the shopping experience for consumers, Aflatooni said. 

“At Family Dollar, we wake up every day focused on how we can help our shoppers do more and save more, and this app is one more way we’ll be able to deliver on that promise,” Emily Turner, chief marketing officer at Dollar Tree, Inc., said in a statement.

“We believe this new user experience will not only appeal to our customers, but to brands who want to promote their products to our millions of customers through Chesapeake Media Group, our retail media network,” Turner said. The company launched its media group in 2021, following in the steps of a number of retailers that established networks to capitalize on marketers’ needs around data. 

In addition to updating the Family Dollar app, Dollar Tree Inc. has also concentrated on growing its store footprint and improving its product assortment in stores. In its second-quarter earnings report, the company announced that it had opened 118 new locations and completed 276 Family Dollar renovation projects. In March, Dollar Tree announced plans to offer “hundreds of national brand equivalents” to its private label product assortment and add 16,000 cooler doors to its locations. 

The shift underway at Family Dollar and Dollar Tree has occurred under a new chief executive. In January, the company appointed Rick Dreiling as CEO, a role he took on after Mike Witynski stepped down from the position.

In its most recent earnings, Dollar Tree reported that same-store sales increased 7.8% while Family Dollar grew 5.8%. Overall, the company reported an 8.2% increase in sales year over year to $7.32 billion.