H-E-B's Yellow Coupons Go Digital

The yellow retailer and manufacturer coupons H-E-B regularly affixes to product displays have gone digital.The move puts the Texas-based retailer closer to phasing the grab-and-go, printed coupons out of stores completely. Instead of grabbing a coupon from a take-one stack at the shelf, smartphone-wielding shoppers can now scan the yellow coupons to redeem at checkout. The process requires opening the revamped My H-E-B mobile app, clicking the coupons tab, then the “Scan coupon in store” button at the top of the screen. Shoppers can then scan coupons throughout the store and redeem by selecting “Clipped Coupons” in the app and showing the coupon barcodes at checkout. A June 10 email to shoppers touted the new digital coupon capability.While heb.com's "Digital Coupons" overview page still promotes "Printable Coupons" for in-store shopping under "Additional Ways to Save" using a "Clip Coupons" call to action, the button leads to an empty page informing users "There are no offers available. Please check back as we are continually adding new offers." However, a customer services representative for H-E-B told the Path to Purchase Institute that the offers won't be coming back, at least not in the form of the yellow coupons.Shoppers can also virtually clip other H-E-B-generated digital coupons on heb.com or within the retailer’s app, and receive printed coupons on receipts and via publications like Sunday newspapers. Most coupons don't have a limit on redemption uses while valid.In other digital moves, H-E-B on June 17 added a "Shop Now" button to its Facebook page, which links to the heb.com home page.H-E-B's change in course on coupons comes at a time other retailers have been rethinking paper coupons as a way to reduce physical contact in stores and keep both shoppers and employees safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic. BJ's Wholesale Club temporarily suspended paper coupons in its clubs weeks ago and made all coupons in the BJ’s Savings Book catalog available digitally via bjs.com or the retailer's mobile app. The warehouse club added "a large assortment" of manufacturer coupons to its digital coupon offerings for members to virtually clip, automatically adding the savings to their membership card.

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