Shaw's Offers Freezer Along with Food

In one of the more compelling overlays to Frozen Food Month, Shaw's supermarket has been running a sweepstakes awarding 20 grand-prize refrigerators.Through April 1, shoppers using their Shaw's Rewards card to purchase six participating frozen-food SKUs are automatically entered to win one of the refrigerators "and enough food to fill them" (which amounts to a $100 Shaw's gift card). Cooler-door clings promote the sweeps in stores.Spearheaded by the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association and funded by 22 category manufacturers, the "March is Frozen Food Month" effort has received strong support from most of the nation's leading supermarket chains. (See Related Articles.)Spotlight on Shaw'sWest Bridgewater, MA-based Shaw's received national attention last week when U.K. parent Sainsbury agreed to sell the chain to Albertsons, the nation's second largest grocery operator, for $2.47 billion. Shaw's had sales of $4.6 billion in 2003. The deal is expected to close in May.Shaw's operates 202 stores under the Shaw's and Star Market banners in Massachusetts (92 locations), New Hampshire (34), Connecticut (24), Maine (20), Vermont (18) and Rhode Island (14). Its operating footprint is reflected in its marketing and merchandising strategy, both of which have a decidedly New England flavor.The deal makes Albertsons the only coast-to-coast supermarket conglomerate (neither Kroger nor Safeway have New England operations) with more than 2,500 locations (which puts it roughly even with Kroger for the channel lead). It leaves the Southeast as the only region in which Albertsons does not have any presence (which explains why the company is considering the purchase of Ahold USA's Bruno's and Bi-Lo chains).Provided that Albertsons makes good on its promise to not "try to fix something that isn't broken" (according to a statement announcing the acquisition), the deal could be a good one for Shaw's. And Albertsons has, for the most part, done that in the past, allowing regional acquisitions such as Jewel in Chicago and Acme in Pennsylvania to maintain their local focus while taking advantage of back-office economies of scale.In particular, Albertsons' expertise in the drugstore channel, through the operation of both stand-alone and "dual-branded" stores (see "Marketing at Albertsons" for more), could be a benefit: Only 76 Shaw's locations currently have a pharmacy.

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