Ahold Promotes 'Gigantic' Sale

Ahold USA's chains continued to make price the focus of most in-store messaging in January after turning in a fairly successful financial performance in fiscal 2009. Giant-Carlisle used ceiling banners, aisle signs and other P-O-P materials to communicate a "Gigantic Stock-Up Sale." (See Images at right.) Examples of featured items include two 12-packs of Kimberly-Clark's Scott for $12, two pints of Nestlé's Edy's for $5, and three bags of Frito-Lay's Lay's for $6; promoted private-label products include salad dressing for $1.29, five 12-packs of soft drinks for $10, and canned kidney beans for 59 cents. Circular features and radio spots supported.The "Gigantic" promotion also included an online game that had shoppers guessing the total cost of a pictured bag of groceries. Contestants who guessed within $1 were entered into a sweepstakes awarding $400 (presented as the price of a month's worth of groceries). The game ran through Feb. 6.In other activity, Giant-Carlisle and sisters Giant-Landover and Stop & Shop all staged "10 for $10" events, using endcap headers and side panels to tout sales on such products as General Mills' Betty Crocker brownie mix, ConAgra Foods' Chef Boyardee and Unilever's Knorr Pasta Sides. (See Images at right.) The promotion took the place of the seasonal cross-merchandising events that Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover ran in 2009.Meanwhile, Stop & Shop used stanchion signs to promote special prices on products included in the company-wide "Healthy Ideas" program, which identifies national and private-label brands that meet certain nutritional criteria. (See "Supermarkets Tag Along on Nutrition" in Related Articles.)Other Promotional ActivityGiant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover and Stop & Shop are all recognizing February's designation as Black History Month with "Profiles in Excellence" brochures describing the contributions that African-Americans have made to dance. The brochures are distributed on stanchions with dedicated signs. (See Image at right.) Ahold has been running a similar campaign with varying themes for several years. Stop & Shop tapped into the National Football League's Feb. 7 Super Bowl by using stanchion signs to tout prepared foods such as sandwich platters and vegetable trays. Other stanchions distributed recipes for party dishes such as "buffalo chicken dip." (See Images at right.) The chain also sampled "game day party favorites" near store entrances on Feb. 6-7.All three chains -- along with most of the food-drug-mass marketplace -- provided prime secondary real estate to PepsiCo's annual activation of its official Super Bowl sponsorship. Spectacular headers, base wrap and other P-O-P materials depicted NFL players and their wives (such as the Minnesota Vikings' Chad Greenway and wife Jenni) inviting shoppers to "Party Like the Pros." Account-specific signage touted such "big game specials" as two free bags of Frito-Lay chips with purchase of four Pepsi 12-packs and two jars of Tostitos salsa at Stop & Shop. (See Images at right.)Also earning secondary placement was a national display from Kraft Foods' Velveeta that used a marketing partnership with Anheuser-Busch to present "spicy buffalo beer dip" as a game-day treat. Graphics sported the logo of Budweiser's annual "Bud Bowl" program. (See "Beer Brands Stock ..." in Related Articles.) The shippers also carried coupon tearpads dangling $1 off the combined purchase of Velveeta and any chip SKU. (See Images at right.)Among recent vendor-specific activity, Giant-Landover used price labels to promote an offer for $5 off a future receipt with the loyalty-card purchase of five Kraft cheese SKUs from Jan. 1-24. Giant-Carlisle offers a free package of General Mills' Pillsbury crescent rolls with purchase of ConAgra's Hebrew National hot dogs from Jan. 24 to Feb. 13. Shelf signs carrying coupon tearpads communicate the offer. (See Images at right.)CircularsAmong recent activity at Giant-Landover, shoppers were offered: $3 in instant savings with purchase of $15 in select private-label products including juice, crescent rolls, facial tissues and ibuprofen from Jan. 15-21. $5 in instant savings with a loyalty-card purchase of $20 worth of Unilever brands including Hellmann's, Ragu, Wish-Bone, Q-tip and Suave from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4. a free bag of Dole salad with the loyalty-card purchase of Smithfield pork loin, along with a recipe for "Asian pork salad," from Jan. 8-14. $12 in savings via mail-in rebate with purchase of six bottles of Beringer wine.Shoppers at Stop & Shop were recently offered: Rewards of 10 cents per gallon of gas to loyalty cardholders who purchased four select Procter & Gamble products, four ConAgra products and four private-label products in different weeks. (Sixty-one Stop & Shop locations run the program through accompanying gas stations.) a checkout coupon for a free Redbox rental with purchase of private-label canned soup. The coupons are redeemable at store-front Redbox kiosks. (See "Stop & Shop Offers ..." in Related Articles.) a free bag of private-label garden salad with purchase of a Hormel pork tenderloin from Hormel Foods from Jan. 8-14. a free five-pound bag of Ocean Spray grapefruit with purchase of two bottles of the brand's grapefruit juice.Among the promotions recently offered at Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover were: $5 off a future receipt with purchase of $15 in select ConAgra products including Hunt's, Healthy Choice and Swiss Miss at Giant-Landover from Jan. 8-14; at Stop & Shop, shoppers received 10-cent gas discounts with purchase of four ConAgra items. $6 in savings on P&G's Gillette Fusion, Venus Embrace or Venus Breeze refills by combining a $3 brandSaver coupon with the chain's loyalty-card sales price. (See "P&G brandSaver Solutions: January 2010" in Related Articles.) free SKUs of private-label soda and French fries with purchase of two packages of Pinnacle Foods Group's Mrs. Paul's at Giant-Landover and Van de Kamp's at Stop & Shop from Jan. 22-28. savings of $2, $3 or $5 on a future receipt with purchase of two, three or four 24-packs of Nestlé's Deer Park at Giant-Landover and Poland Spring at Stop & Shop from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4. $4 in instant savings with combined purchase of three Gorton's SKUs and three packages of General Mills' Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4. a free bag of private-label garden salad with purchase of two SKUs from Schwan Food Co.'s Freschetta or PizzAmore from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4. a recipe for "citrus yogurt crunch" using General Mill's Yoplait and Cheerios. The feature directed shoppers to in-store sampling events. a free two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola Co. products with purchase of eight pieces of fried chicken and one pound of pre-packaged potato salad, macaroni salad or coleslaw from the deli. $10 off a future receipt with purchase of $30 in select P&G products in a tie-in to the manufacturer's January edition of brandSaver Solutions. (See "P&G brandSaver Solutions: January 2010" in Related Articles.)Giant-Carlisle offered a free package of Nestlé's Skinny Cow ice cream with loyalty-card purchase of six SKUs of the manufacturer's Lean Cuisine or Lean Pockets brands.Direct MarketingSmall Victories, the new publication for loyalty cardholders being distributed by Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover (see "Ahold USA Field Report: Dec. 23, 2009" in Related Articles), launched a companion website to facilitate reader feedback and create a content library. The mini-magazine is already claiming one million readers. The publication's winter 2010 edition carried 10 coupons of $1 or greater for products from Kraft, General Mills, Hormel, ConAgra, PepsiCo, Perdue and Caribou Coffee, and two coupons for free private-label SKUs. It also contained ads for Kraft's Oscar Mayer Lunchables and Natural Cheese.Specialty/Destination DepartmentsStop & Shop signed a deal with real estate agency Re/Max of New England to add offices in up to 17 supermarkets in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire in 2010 as part of a five-year pact, according to a Re/Max release. More than 125 Stop & Shop stores already provide space to such other outside businesses as Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks and Boston Market.

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