The Promotional Pundit: Fresh & Easy Buzz's 'Promotional Pundit' and Watchdog Likes Safeway's '12 Days To Save' Promotion

There tends to be a dearth of creative marketing and advertising when it comes to the weekly promotional offerings put forth by U.S. supermarket chains.

For example, most food retailers' weekly advertising circulars consist mainly of a series of national (and regional) brand and store brand items which are offered at discount prices, along with a store-specific coupon or two. This isn't a bad thing - just a limiting one.

Of course, there are exceptions.

I noticed such an exception yesterday in the form of a four-page, full-color supplemental promotional/advertising circular distributed by Pleasanton, California-based Safeway Stores, Inc. via Sunday newspapers and online in all of its U.S. markets. Safeway operates hundreds of supermarkets in California, Nevada and Arizona - the three states where Tesco's 130 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market grocery and fresh foods markets are located - under the "Safeway" and "Vons" banners, as well as operating under "Safeway" and other banners in numerous other parts of the country.

The Promotional 'Big Idea'

Safeway's concept in the supplemental advertising flier issued yesterday - and good until Christmas Eve, December 24 - is a simple yet catchy one.

The promotion is called "Safeway's 12 Days To Save." It's a takeoff on the famous "12 Days of Christmas" song and theme."

In the advertising flier [an online version even includes sound; click the fourth button from the left on the Web Player at the link, top of the Web Site] Safeway is offering shoppers a coupon good for a one free item for each of the 12 days - beginning yesterday - leading up to Christmas. The last free coupon - for a free bottle of Safeway brand Club Soda - is to be redeemed by shoppers on Christmas Eve.

Among the "12 days of free items" from Safeway, along with the club soda, are a dozen free eggs, a 5 pound bag of potatoes, free cake mix and eight other items. Shoppers have to spend a minimum of $20 to get the daily free item coupon offering.

The promotion and advertising flier isn't a replacement for Safeway's regular weekly advertising circular. Rather, it's a supplement to it, geared around the Christmas holiday song and theme of the "12 Days of Christmas."

I like Safeway's promotion for a number of reasons.

First, it breaks out of the usual price-promotion-only focused paradigm/box by adding a creative element to it: The "12 Days of Christmas," which is a song every grocery shopper can relate to. It's easy for a consumer to immediately make the mental connection between the 12 days of free item coupons and the "12 days of Christmas" song and theme.

Second, the promotion adds the element of fun to grocery shopping. This cynical pundit smiled when we saw the flier, for example. Good advertising creates smiles.

Third, FREE is an obviously powerful offering. With a coupon for one free item, such as a dozen eggs, in hand, and with only a $20 purchase minimum needed in order to obtain it, I think a non-Safeway shopper just might be tempted to give Safeway a try. In other words, creating new customer trial, which should always be one goal of grocer promotions. And for regular Safeway shoppers the free item is a bonus for being a loyal customer.

Lastly, and perhaps most important, Safeway's "12 Days To Save" promotion and advertising flier creates interest in the Safeway brand. Safeway's supplemental advertising flier caught my attention, for example, and I look at way too many grocery chain promotional and advertising pieces. That means is broke from the usual clutter.

Such interest in "brand Safeway" does more than promote -- it adds to the chain's overall marketing and brand building efforts -- and as such I think it warrants being called a marketing piece as well as just a promotional one.

I give two thumbs up to Safeway's "12 Days To Save" promotion.

And just for fun, the song: "The 12 Days of Christmas"

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree!

Click here to listen to the song: "The Twelve (12) Days of Christmas."

'The Promotional Pundit:' Old September 25, 2008 Online Coupon Post Removed From the Fresh & Easy Company Marketing Blog; See My Past Columns

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market director of marketing Simon Uwins or one of the grocery chain's marketing staffers has removed the September 25, 2008 post about the grocer's first online coupon from the company marketing Blog as I suggested in my recent columns should be done.

Read my past columns on the topic at the links below to learn what I wrote about the issue:

>October 10, 2008: 'The Promotional Pundit': Keeping the Marketing and Promotional Eye On the Ball; Fixing A Promotional Fiasco Fresh & Easy Isn't Even Aware Of

>October12, 2008: 'The Promotional Pundit:' More On the Online Coupon Fiasco: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Marketing Department to Launch A New Online Coupon Early Next Week

>October 13, 2008: 'The Promotional Pundit': Tesco Fresh & Easy Launches New $6-off Online Coupon Today; Post on Corp. Marketing Blog Remains -- Adding Insult to Injury

The old, September 25 post remained on the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog until at least late last week.

The Promotional Pundit was alerted by a regular reader of the column yesterday that it had been removed.

It's good to see somebody at Fresh & Easy agreed with the Promotional Pundit and a number of Fresh & Easy Buzz readers who emailed me about the issue. Even more so, it's good the retailer is willing to self-correct.

Their were a number of readers of the Fresh & Easy marketing Blog who made comments on the Blog's September 25 post about being disappointed about not being able to get their online coupon when they clicked the link on the post, as you can read about and view in my previous columns linked above. When the readers/consumers clicked the link to go to the page where the coupon was supposed to be located, they were greeted with a message telling them the coupon had expired -- but suggesting they should go to their nearest Fresh & Easy market for great in-store low prices. Of course, since they were invited to obtain a coupon so they could enjoy "lower" prices, that wasn't a very pleasing solution to them.

As I wrote about in this October 13 column, "'The Promotional Pundit': Tesco Fresh & Easy Launches New $6-off Online Coupon Today; Post on Corp. Marketing Blog Remains -- Adding Insult to Injury," Fresh & Easy issued a new online coupon on October 13. That online coupon is being promoted on the homepage of the freshandeasy.com Web site. It isn't being promoted at all at present on Mr. Uwins' Fresh & Easy company marketing Blog. No new post regarding the new coupon replaced the September 25 post which I suggested needed to be removed -- and now has been removed from the Fresh & Easy company marketing Blog.

Even though the seven readers of the Fresh & Easy marketing Blog won't get an answer from Mr. Uwins or anybody else at Fresh & Easy to their comments about not being able to obtain their online coupon, at least by removing the post no further damage will be done from a marketing, branding and customer relations standpoint to Fresh & Easy.

That's the best thing a marketer can do in such a situation, which is why the Promotional Pundit suggested it needed to be done.

The comments from the seven consumers should have each been answered on the September 25 Blog post first though, telling each one about the new $6-off purchases of $30 or more online coupon, and providing the link to it on the homepage of the freshandeasy.com Web site. That would have been good customer service.

If a retailer uses a Blog as a marketing tool, it automatically becomes an interactive customer service tool as well. As a result, it is incumbent on the retailer to them answer readers comments -- positive or negative -- just like that retailer expects store-level employees to respond to questions from customers in-store. The Blog is in many ways merely an electronic extension of a physical storefront after all.

However, since the September 25 post is now gone (a positive event), it's a moot point in terms of responding to the comments from the readers/consumers. At least by removing the old post Fresh & Easy's marketing department is correcting a mistake, which I congratulate them for doing.

The first rule of marketing is: "But first, do no harm." An appendix to that rule is: "If you cause harm, immediately prevent further harm."

Fresh & Easy was slow on the draw in preventing further reputational harm by talking so long to delete the September 25 post. But at least they have now done so. That's a positive thing in terms of preventing additional marketing, branding and customer relations harm to the company.

'The Promotional Pundit': Tesco Fresh & Easy Launches New $6-off Online Coupon Today; Post on Corp. Marketing Blog Remains -- Adding Insult to Injury

Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market launched its $6-off online coupon on its freshandeasy.com Web site today, as I reported yesterday in my column the grocery chain would be doing. As I reported, the coupon's value is for $6-off purchases of $30 or more in Fresh & Easy stores.

The coupon is located on the front page of the food and grocery retailer's freshandeasy.com Web site, on the left side at the very bottom of the homepage below the menu list. You can view it here. Scroll down to the bottom, left hand side of the homepage. Look closely as it is in a spot you likely wouldn't notice unless you are intentionally looking. The green color of the coupon link also tends to blend in with the page colors, making it less than easy to spot.

When you click on the coupon graphic on the homepage, it takes you to a page where the coupon is here. You click on a link and can download the coupon. Below is the promotional message at that link:




The new online coupon expires on October 19. That's one week from today.

In my column yesterday I reported the $6-off online coupon dropping today would have a three week shelf-life. That's not the case. Instead the coupon has a one week shelf-life. It expires on October 19, 2008. The Promotional Pundit can't be perfect. And, he was told by a couple good sources the original plan for the online coupon was for a three week duration.

The first Fresh & Easy online coupon, which I wrote about in my October 10 column, had a shelf-life of only four days. It came out on September 25 and expired on September 28. That online coupon had a value of only $1, good for purchases of $10 or more.

Click on the headline link to read my October 10, 2008 column here:'The Promotional Pundit': Keeping the Marketing and Promotional Eye On the Ball; Fixing A Promotional Fiasco Fresh & Easy Isn't Even Aware Of. Click on the headline link to read my column from yesterday, October 13, 2008, here: 'The Promotional Pundit:' More On the Online Coupon Fiasco: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Marketing Department to Launch A New Online Coupon Early Next Week.

In my column yesterday I suggested Tesco Fresh & Easy post today's online coupon in a easy to view place, such as on the home page of its freshandeasy.com Web site, which it has. I would suggest making the coupon advertisement a bit more easily visible than it is in its current location on the homepage though. Also a little higher-up on the page.

Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog

Unlike what was done with the first online coupon, their is no mention of the new $6-off online coupon on the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog, which is authored and published by director of marketing Simon Uwins. That coupon was only promoted on the marketing Blog, with a mention as well on the grocer's page on Twitter.com.

However, the September 25 post announcing the first online coupon -- the $1-off purchases of $10 or more -- remains as of this evening at the top of the corporate marketing Blog. It's the one I wrote about in my first column on the topic on October 10 here and wrote about again in my column yesterday. The link on the September 25 post does now take the reader to the new $6-off coupon on the Freshandeasy.com Web site though.

There are eleven comments on that September 25 post announcing the first online coupon in the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market corporate marketing Blog. As I wrote about in yesterday's column, seven of those eleven comments are from Fresh & Easy customers unhappy about not being able to get an online coupon as the post says they can. They couldn't get it because when you click the link to the online coupon in that September 25 post it takes you to a linked page where you are told the coupon has expired. It even says "sorry."

You can read all seven of those comments in my October 13 and October 10 columns using the links above.

All of the current seven of those comments on the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog still go unanswered by Mr. Uwins or any members of his marketing staff.

It appears Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market isn't concerned about seven unhappy customers, assuming they have remained customers after their respective experiences with the first online coupon fiasco, which continues because the September 25 post remains up and the commentors'/consumers' questions remain without a response from Fresh & Easy. At least one of the commentors says she won't be shopping at Fresh & Easy anymore because of coupon issues and until they are resolved.

Marketing & promotions 101

The Promotional Pundit can't recall the last time he has seen a food and grocery retailer neglect consumers like this, especially since in the case of Fresh & Easy marketing director Simon Uwins he is using the Blog as a marketing tool. It looks to me like a better term would be "anti-marketing" tool in this case.

We all make mistakes, such as was the case Fresh & Easy made by not deleting the September 25 post, thereby creating unhappy consumers who clicked the link only to be told the online coupon was expired.

Those of us who publish Blogs know when it comes to readers leaving comments its the exception rather than the norm for them to do so. The fact seven readers of the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog have left comments indicating being less than pleased about not getting their online coupons is a rather high number. Just imagine how many readers of the Blog also tried to get the coupon, were unhappy, but didn't leave a comment. We think its likely, based on seven that did comment, that number is easily in the hundreds.

Not answering the seven commentors'/consumers' remarks on the September 25 post, along with not deleting it or at least publishing a new post announcing the new $6-off online coupon launched today is pure lack of follow-up. And that's being kind. It's an example of a marketer taking his or her eye off the marketing ball. It also violates the first rule of marketing and promotions, which is: "But first...do no harm."

In this case the harm has already been done. And each additional day that September 25 post remains up makes the harm worse. It adds insult to injury.

For example, when I wrote my October 10 column, there were three complaints from consumers on that September 25 post in the Fresh & Easy marketing Blog. Just two days later on Sunday, there were four new ones.

Again, how many additional consumers read the September 25 post in the Fresh & Easy company marketing Blog just since I wrote my first column on Friday -- and again between yesterday and this evening when I am writing this -- and couldn't obtain their online coupon, were unhappy about it, but didn't comment as is the norm? Probably quite a few. Every customer a food retailer loses generally tells six or more family members, friends and co-workers about their bad experience with that retailer, and in the case where they stop shopping at that retailer's stores why they did so. Negative word of mouth advertising is not a good thing.

Sir Terry's ghost

One of the keys to the impressive global success of Tesco PLC. under the leadership of CEO Sir Terry Leahy has been the corporate culture he's promoted at the retailer's United Kingdom headquarters which emphasises attention to detail and follow-up.

However, It appears that corporate culture hasn't successfully made the journey across the pond from the UK to Southern California where Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's corporate headquarters is located. Until it does, we expect to see more examples of taking the eye off the ball like this and numerous other examples we've chronicled since December of last year.

Meanwhile, since there's no mention on the corporate marketing Blog about the new $6-off coupon located on the homepage of freshandeasy.com, despite the fact more than one of the commentors on that September 25 post ask in their comments when a new online coupon will be coming out. I suppose they will have to get lucky and find the link on the Web site. But they only have seven days to do so since that's when the online coupon launched today expires.

'The Promotional Pundit:' More On the Online Coupon Fiasco: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Marketing Department to Launch A New Online Coupon Early Next Week

In my column on Friday, I wrote about Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's marketing department and how it's taken its eyes off the marketing ball by testing the use of its first online store coupon as part of its attempts at viral or online marketing and promotions.

Just click on the headline: 'The Promotional Pundit': Keeping the Marketing and Promotional Eye On the Ball; Fixing A Promotional Fiasco Fresh & Easy Isn't Even Aware Of, to read my Friday, October 10 column.

The Promotional Pundit has now learned Tesco's Fresh & Easy plans to issue a new online coupon early next week, most probably on Monday or Tuesday.

The planned new coupon is to be $6-off of total purchases of $30 or more. It also will have an about three week shelf-life (expiring in three weeks) rather than the four day shelf-life of the coupon I wrote about in my October 10 column. That online coupon was $1-off purchases of $10 or more.

Because of the limited shelf life (four days) and the limited value ($1-off) on that online coupon, we're told very few if any of the online coupons were actually used by customers at Fresh & Easy stores, which tends to be the primary objective of issuing a coupon in the first place.

Fresh & Easy's corporate marketing department meant the $1-off coupon as a test. However, a four day shelf-life isn't really a decent test period. Two weeks -to- four weeks, maybe -- but four days is essentially a waste of effort.

Additionally, since the coupon was only publicized on the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing department Blog and on the Fresh and Easy site on Twitter.com, the potential audience --an audience that only had four days to discover the online coupon -- is rather small. And that's being generous

An online coupon test needs to have the time to get enough potential consumers aware the coupon exists in order to make the conclusions of the test meaningful. In this case the lack of meaningfulness of the test was clear: It's hard to find one Fresh & Easy store where one of the online coupons have been redeemed.

To put it another way: If you put an online coupon online in a very limited way and nobody sees it, did you really put an online coupon online at all?

Of course, even though the test was a non-test, it appears Fresh & Easy's marketing department figured out two important things: First, that the $1-off purchases of $10 or more isn't enough of a value; and that an online coupon with only a four day shelf-life isn't likely to get much play.

Therefore, the new online coupon set to come out tomorrow or on Tuesday will have a substantially higher value -- $6-off on purchases of $30 or more -- along with a much longer expiration period -- three weeks instead of four days, according to my sources.

I suggested both in my Friday column, although I'm not suggesting that column was even read by anybody in Fresh & Easy's corporate marketing department.

Fresh & Easy has been using its famous $5-off purchases of $20 or more paper coupons for nearly a year now. The grocery chain continues to use them. The paper coupons are distributed via direct snail mail and given out in the stores.

It appears the retailer's marketing staff has decided to make the new online coupon in line with that offering, tweaking it a bit by increasing the online coupon's value by a buck in return for shoppers having to spend ten bucks more ($30 instead of $20) to be able to obtain the coupon discount.

This is interesting because Fresh & Easy Buzz has been writing for months about the $5-off-$20 coupons, which represent a 25% deep discount when used on grocery purchases of $20.

One of the things the Blog has written about over the last months is that if Fresh & Easy is going to use such margin-killing, deep-discount coupons, it should at least raise the dollar amount of total purchases required to redeem the coupon. The reason being that at least that way the coupons would serve to help increase the stores' total market basket size or average ring, at least theoretically. If shoppers have to buy $30 worth instead of $20 worth of groceries to redeem the coupon that means every order in which one of the coupons is used is at a total sale of $10 more.

It appears Fresh & Easy's marketers have decided to do just that with the new online coupon coming out next week.

Instead of the 25% savings a shopper gets when using the $5-off coupon on a $20 purchase, with the new online coupon, the shopper will get 20%-off a $30 purchase, which saves the grocery retailer 5% in terms of margin loss in the case of $30 purchases.

Theoretically it also increases the average online coupon users' -- compared to the average $5-off paper coupon users' -- market basket size or store average ring by $10. (The amount the shopper is required to buy to use the coupon and the resulting increased overall dollar sales per order for a given store.)

Of course, the $5-off coupons on purchases of $20 or more aren't going away..at least not completely yet. The online $6-off purchases of $30 or more coupon is merely an online test, and will be in addition to the $5 off paper coupons still being used by the retailer. But the Promotional Pundit believes the test is in part a way to figure out how to eliminate the everyday use of those famous $5-off $20 purchases coupons. Hint: it's already happening.

The Promotional Pundit also believes the $6-off online coupon on purchases of $30 or more is a far better launch than the $1-off coupon scheme was, particularly because the duration of the online coupon is three weeks rather than four days. It appears somebody might actually have thought this one through a bit, which is a good thing.

In fact, the three week online coupon duration is about what I suggested in my Friday column. I also suggested the value of any further online coupons need to be increased. That they need to be more than $1 to have any impact.

I wouldn't have jumped from a $1-off coupon to a $6 off coupon personally, The differential is too high. It's also a bit eractic. But since very few consumers saw the first $1-off coupon, and few if any of the online coupons were redeemed in Fresh & Easy stores, that aspect is really a moot point.

However, in the larger marketing scheme of things the question remains if offering coupons worth 25% and 20% off respectively is good business for Fresh & Easy at all? After all, the stores are positioned as being everyday low price discount markets. Should that marketing and positioning be in need of a boost to the tune of 25%, like the aggressively-used famous $5-off paper coupons have been doing since the first stores opened last November and December, and continues to do today?

Of course, with both the $5-off paper coupons and the new $6-off purchases of $30 or more online coupon set to launch next week, the hope (by Fresh & Easy corporate) is that shoppers will use the coupons but purchase far more than the minimum of the $20 or $30 required to redeem them therefore making the discount less and the margin hit to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market far less than 25% or 20%.

Since it's difficult to only spend $20 or $30 at the grocery store today, even if a shopper is just picking up a few basics, there could be some merit in that hope. But even an average of say 15% overall in the reduction of margin from the coupon use is a tough margin hit for any food retailer.

There's also the danger, in the case of having used the $5-off purchases of $20 or more coupons for so long, as well as in such an aggressive manner, that many Fresh & Easy shoppers will stop shopping the stores once either the value of the coupons drops significantly (which has to happen eventually) or they are eliminated altogether.

Regular and aggressive price discounts like deep-discount coupons are a double-edged sword for a grocer. On the one hand, they can work well if used on a limited basis to generate new customer trial; as a way to introduce shoppers to the stores. That's what a promotion is after all. Special and not ongoing. They also can work well in a limited way as a reward mechanism; to reward regular shoppers for their business. For example a promotion like this: "Spend $50 on Sunday October 12 at any Fresh & Easy store and receive a coupon good for $6-off your next $50 purchase at Fresh & Easy."

However, used too aggressively and too regularly, such deep discount coupons become the norm to shoppers. They mentally build the discounts obtained from using them into their mental calculus (shopper psychology) of how much they should be paying for groceries at the store that uses them so frequently. Because the coupons are used all the time they stop having their promotional value.

Reduce the value of the coupons significantly or eliminate them and those customers mentally determine they're paying more than they should for groceries at that store, even if the fact is the everyday prices at that store are among the cheapest in the market, for example. The result is many of these shoppers will either stop shopping at the store completely or will reduce the amount of groceries they buy at the store (decreased market basket), spending the difference at a competitor's store.

Think about it in this simple way: A grocery chain "trains" shoppers over say a year to save a considerable amount of money at its stores by using deep-discount coupons. The shopper does so and is pleased with the results. Then, as all grocers must do unless they raise the everyday prices of the items in their stores, that grocery chain significantly lowers the value of the coupon, say by 40-50%. From let us say $5-off purchases of $20 or more to $3-off purchases of $20 or more and then two months later to $2-off.

Following that reduction they eventually eliminate the deep discount coupons all together as a regular tool and instead only periodically offer a 10% or 15%-off value coupon, say maybe four times a year for a three week duration each time. [Most U.S. supermarket chains don't even use these types of coupons at all, except maybe for a two week period once a year for a special event. And deep-discount positioned grocers like small-format Aldi or Sav-A-lot don't use them at all. The reason being the point of a deep-discount grocery retailer is to put everything into having low everyday prices in-store -- everyday.]

Does anybody really believe shoppers won't notice the drop in the coupon value and the eventual elimination of the deep-discount coupons? That now instead of regularly saving 20-25% on the groceries purchased at their Fresh & Easy store you now only get the opportunity to save 10-15% a few weeks out of the year?

Since Fresh & Easy has been using these $5-off coupons regularly since the first stores opened, the expectation they will continue is rather strong among shoppers. Just ask Fresh & Easy store employees, who I believe are the retailer's number one asset, about the various reactions some customers have when the store doesn't have any of the $5-off coupons to give out in-store.

As a result, there is a danger of losing a significant number of shoppers. This is particularly true of customers who might have made the store their primary shopping venue because of the deep discount coupons. Take away the coupons and they go searching for another store they think offers better value. Perception is reality in the mind of a consumer after all.

Deep-discount tools like the $5-off and $6-off coupons aren't marketing. Rather, they are promotions. It's always good to keep that distinction in mind. And promotions must be special and irregular to have promotional value. Turn a promotional tool like a deep-discount into an everyday thing and it loses it promotional value.

New online coupon distribution and promotion

I would also expect the Fresh & Easy team would broaden how the new online coupon is promoted online when it's launched next week as well. For example, instead of limiting it to a brief post on the corporate marketing Blog and on the Twitter.com site (both are fine just not enough), I would expect the online coupon to be displayed in an dominant place on the freshandeasy.com Web site, which the first online coupon was not. The only way you could find out about the first coupon was via the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog or on Twitter.com.

Also, why not send out a press release about the online coupon? Fresh & Easy corporate sends out at least one press release each fortnight (every two weeks) even if the release has no news value attached to it.

I would expect to see a press release regarding the new $6-off online coupon since it has some news value attached to it. Plus, even if only a few publications pick the release up, it's still free media and would add to the number of consumers who become aware of the online coupon's availability, which is the point of doing it isn't it -- to create users of the coupon?

There also are numerous other ways to promote the online coupon online using social marketing sites and techniques. But we will stop offering suggestions here. Instead we look forward to seeing how Fresh & Easy's corporate marketing team handles the launch of the online coupon next week.

One more thing though. The thrust of my Friday column wasn't a put down in any way of Fresh & Easy's experiment with the $1-off online coupon. In fact, if your read the column, you will see I said I liked the idea, just that the execution failed and their was no follow-up. By the way, failed execution and lack of follow-up are two sins of marketing that in real marketing-driven companies usually result in at least a trip to the woodshed -- and often far more.

Rather, the thrust of the column was about how Fresh & Easy's marketing team led by marketing director Simon Uwins took its eye off the ball by not deleting the September 25, 2008 post on Mr. Uwins' company marketing Blog, which announced the coupon, after the coupon expired just four days later. It's been two weeks since the coupon expired and the post is still up, directing people to the Web site page where they can get their free coupon, not.

If you read my Friday column and go to the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog, you will see that very September 25 post at the top of Mr. Uwins' Blog. There hasn't been a new post since. On that post is a link to take you to a place on the Fresh & Easy company Web site where the online coupon is located. However, when you click that link and arrive at the Web site, instead of the $1 coupon you are looking for you get a message telling you: "Sorry the coupon has expired."

You also will see in my Friday column the comments on Mr. Uwins' Blog from three not so happy people who did what was asked of them, reading the post and clicking the link, only to be told they were out of luck in getting what was promised them, which was the online coupon. Fresh & Easy Buzz also received a few emails from readers complaining about the situation in the same way the three commentors on Mr. Uwins Blog complained.

In my Friday column I published three comments (out of a total of six comments that existed on the post that day) published on Mr. Uwins' marketing Blog by unhappy people about the way Fresh & Easy has handled the online coupon promotion. Guess what? today, just two days later, there are more. There now are 11 total comments on that post on Mr. Uwins' corporate marketing Blog. All but one of the five new comments are negative ones about the online coupon fiasco, from unhappy consumers.

Below are those four new negative comments (as of Sunday evening, October 12) from Mr. Uwins' September 25 post which announced the online coupon promotion:

1. Hydeman family said...
We shopped almost every other day at the F&E stores in our neighborhood, but since the exit of store coupons, and the unavailable online coupons, it has been a month since we have been back. We love F&E but are also on a super tight budget...since you don't honor other coupons, we are at a loss! Please make the online coupons available or bring back store coupons. Thanks for listening, take care.~Jenn Hydeman - Arizona
October 7, 2008 9:27 PM

2. LISA IN ARIZONA said...
I AGREE WE NEED MORE ON LINE COUPONS,I HAVE TO GO ON LINE JUST TO SEE THE ADD. ID LIKE ONE TO COME IN THE MAIL, IVE TRIED EVERYTHING FILLED OUT CARDS ASKED ON LINE BUT STILL NO ADDS COME TO MY HOUSE?
October 8, 2008 8:29 PM

3. Anonymous said...
I agree with many here, on-line coupons would be nice, especially updated so they are not expired. And did I read right??? No more coupons given at the store????? Nooooooo!!!!!!! Please bring them back, please, please, please :)
October 10, 2008 11:16 AM

4. Romeo said...
When will the coupons be online and not expired?
October 12, 2008 3:39 AM

######

Fresh & Easy trying to eliminate the now 'overly famous' $5-off coupons

Notice the comments above from the Fresh & Easy store customers about being unable to get the $5-off purchases of $20 or more paper coupons at the stores? Good. Now scroll back up a bit and read the paragraphs I have in italics a second time. [Yes, that's why they in italics.] [Note Jenn Hydeman's comments above. She is refering to the fact Fresh & Easy stores do not accept manufacturers coupons like all other U.S. supermarkets do.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy is attempting to dramatically cut back on the number of the $5-off $20 or more coupons it gives out, especially at store level but also via direct mail as well.

In fact, Fresh & Easy has eliminated giving out the coupons completely at some stores, along with mailing them out to customers in various store neighborhoods, just like I wrote would happen in my column on Friday and just like Fresh & Easy Buzz has been saying would happen since about March of this year. Part of the thinking behind the grocer's experimenting with the online coupons is that they can replace the regular use of the $5-off paper coupons, using the online versions less frequently of course.

And its not just the consumers above who are unhappy and restless over being unable to get coupons in the stores they mention. I have reports from numerous stores the situation is the same.

Keeping the marketing eye on the ball

In my column on Friday I suggested a simple solution Mr Uwins' could have made sure happened to avoid all this consumer angst over the online coupon fiasco. That solution: simply delete or have deleted by a marketing staffer the post in his Blog the day the coupon expired. Then delete the coupon from the website as well.

The Promotional Pundit doesn't believe in marketing or promotion by offending, which is what the marketing team at Fresh & Easy is doing with this issue.

We would hope for the sake of the consumers and customers, Fresh & Easy takes the five minutes required to delete the post on the corporate marketing Blog and the coupon on the website when the new online coupon coming out shortly expires in three weeks.

The first credo of marketing and promotions is, after all: "First thing, do no harm."

'The Promotional Pundit': Keeping the Marketing and Promotional Eye On the Ball; Fixing A Promotional Fiasco Fresh & Easy Isn't Even Aware Of

On September 6 we wrote and published this brief report about a new promotional experiment Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was trying. That new promotional experiment was the offering of an online coupon good for $1-off purchases of $10 or more at Fresh & Easy grocery stores.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market marketing director Simon Uwins announced the offering in a brief September, 25, 2008 post on his Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market corporate marketing Blog.

Below is that September 25 post on the Fresh & Easy Web site Blog:

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Online Coupon at Fresh & Easy
We have noticed a number of requests for an online coupon. So, we’re giving it a try… Check it out and let us know what you think…

When you click the linked words "Check it out": it takes you to a page on the company Web site where the online coupon is...Well, was.

Below was the promotional message that was on the linked Web site page along with the online coupon from September 25-28:

So far so good...right?

As we wrote about in our September 26 piece, since Fresh & Easy only promoted the coupon on the Blog it looked to us like an experiment, which we are all for from a marketing and promotional standpoint.

Additionally, the coupon had a very short shelf life, which is another indication of its experimental nature. The $1-off online coupon expired on September 28, three days after the September 25 Blog post by Mr. Uwins -- and a full two weeks ago.

However, there hasn't been a new post made on the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog since that September 25 post over two weeks ago. Therefore the first post you see when you view the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog is the September 25 post touting the online coupon. That's the post that reads: We have noticed a number of requests for an online coupon. So, we’re giving it a try… Check it out and let us know what you think…

And if at this very moment you happen to be one of those folks that are a part of the group making "a number of requests for an online coupon," or you are a consumer in general who happens to be viewing the Blog and wants an online coupon to take with you shopping to a Fresh & Easy store in order to save a buck -- and you click the "Check it out" link -- you're going to be an unhappy consumer.

Why?

Because even though the very first and the most recent post you see on the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog is the one touting the online coupon, when you click the "Check it Out link," below is the message you get instead of the $1-off coupon you are looking forward to downloading:

The Promotional Pundit calls this "taking the eye off the ball marketing." By this P.P means a failure to follow through properly with a marketing or promotional campaign, even if it is "experimental." In fact, if it is experimental, following through is at least equally and possibly even more important.

And without follow through, not only is the experiment a failure, it can also damage a food retailer's overall image.

In this particular case consumers in general (and existing Fresh & Easy customers) are essentially being teased. They go to the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog, read the most recent post, click on the "Check it out" link to view and most probably download the coupon, only to be told it has expired. Thanks for taking your time to "Check it out." But no thanks.

Wouldn't your response to having gone through this process only to be denied what was promised (the $1-off coupon) in the promotional proposition be: "Thanks for wasting my time Fresh & Easy?

Marketing and promotional activities, including experiments, are intended to not only generate some incremental sales (such as in the case of the $1-off online coupon) but also to fit into the whole of a retailer's marketing strategy. The chief incremental (along with more sales) as well as medium and long term goal being to build goodwill, build brand, and thus increase, maintain and create loyal customers.

And, as in medicine, the chief marketing and promotional credo for marketers should be: "Above all do no harm."

By taking its eye off the marketing and promotional ball and not following through on its online coupon experiment, Fresh & Easy is committing just that marketing mistake. It's disappointing and likely turning off consumers who go to the Blog, read the brief post, click on the link, and look forward to downloading the $1-off coupon. It's also doing harm to the Fresh & Easy brand, which is still yet to be built. All that translates into sales (or lost sales), in case you were wondering if the Promotional Pundit would mention that important part of the overall equation.

There's a very simple solution to this problem. In fact it's a "two click" solution. And that solution (the follow through) should have been implemented the very day the coupon expired, September 28.

On the very day the coupon expired, Mr. Uwins or one of his staff should have simply deleted the September 25 post about the online coupon. Following that, they should then have deleted the page on the Web site where the expired online coupon was located.

By simply following through and deleting the September 25 post and the coupon link page, on September 28, Fresh & Easy could have avoided the as yet unanswered comments offered by consumers numbers 4, 5 and 6 on the Blog post, which we reproduce from the Fresh & Easy corporate Blog in full below:

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Online Coupon at Fresh & Easy

We have noticed a number of requests for an online coupon. So, we’re giving it a try… Check it out and let us know what you think…

posted by Simon Uwins @ 4:58 PM

6 Comments:

1. At September 28, 2008 2:48 PM , Dick said...
Why don't you sell gift cards?

2. At September 28, 2008 5:19 PM , Anonymous said...
Will you please open some stores in Canada? Thank you,Trent

3. At September 28, 2008 11:09 PM , San Diego Fan said...
gift cards would definitely be great! I'd happily give them as presents, I love your store and it'd be a great way to introduce my friends to it as well.

4. At October 1, 2008 11:27 PM , Jeff said...
Thx for listening! It says the coupon is expired, though. :)

5. At October 3, 2008 8:39 PM , Anonymous said...
why aren't there any more coupons given at the stores? and where are the online coupons?

6. At October 6, 2008 12:59 PM , Anonymous said...
i'm ready for the coupons!

The first commentor out of the three (of a total 6 comments) above who address the missing coupon issue is Jeff, who is number 4 above. Jeff is obviously unhappy about not being able to get the $1-off online coupon the Blog post promises him, even though he is smiling.

Number 5 asks plainly: "Where are the online coupons?" The answer is: it expired on September 28, days before your October 3 post. Since the commentor asked where the coupons are a week ago and still hasn't received an answer on the Fresh & Easy corporate Blog, we can imagine he or she isn't a happy Tesco Fresh & Easy shopper either.

Number 6 obviously clicked the link and instead of getting the promised coupon got the "coupon has expired" message too. He or she takes a bit more proactive approach to his disappointment over being teased saying..."I'm ready for the coupons."

Since we see no response from the publisher or marketing team of the Fresh & Easy corporate marketing Blog to Number 6's obvious state of displeasure over having taken the time to attempt to download a coupon but instead getting a "sorry expired" message, something tells us he or she isn't out amongst the masses spreading the cheer for Fresh & Easy either. The Promotional Pundit is a big fan of positive word of mouth marketing by the way. On the other hand P.P. hates negative word of mouth.

Conclusion

The best laid plans of mice and men (and woman too) can often go south. However, when it comes to marketing and promotion: "The meek may inherit the earth...but they won't create market share."

The Promotional Pundit suggests the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market marketing team not be meek. Rather they should delete the September 25 post right away, along with the link telling people the coupon has expired. That's no way to entice potential and existing customers.

The jobs still not done yet though.

Once the "two click" deletions are completed, it's time to make up for taking the marketing and promotional eye off the ball.

How to do that?

Quickly create a $1-off coupon. Give it an about three week expiration date, say to October 31, 2008. Then replace the just deleted September 25 post (including the "Check it out link" to the new coupon) with a new one. On that new post announcing the new, three week online coupon, make it clear the coupon expires on October 31 And, very important: On the early morning of October 31 delete that post and the coupon.

While not completely undoing the mistake, doing this gives the consumers who were disappointed -- not just the three who commented about it but the many more who wouldn't comment because doing so is the exception not the norm -- a chance to get their coupon.

After all, they are doing what Fresh & Easy wants them to do. They didn't take their eyes off the marketing and promotional ball. There's no mention on the September 25 regarding when the coupon expires. The consumer only finds that out when she takes her busy time to click the "Check it out" link, only to discover she can't get what she is promised in the post. In other words, she is set up with a marketing and promotional proposition. She goes for it. Then is told while in near mid-mouse click by the marketer the proposition has been cancelled.

Fixing the problem as the Promotional Pundit suggests also is a good way to show a lack of meekness; that Fresh & Easy could care less about inheriting the earth -- but does care about increasing market share, even in little ways. The Devil is in the details, after all.

'The Promotional Pundit:' How Wal-Mart Can Use its Supercenters to Create Customers For its New Small-Format Marketside Stores in Arizona

Pictured above is a 200,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Phoenix, Arizona Metropolitan area. There's plenty of room inside the mega-stores for a 400-600 square foot 'Marketside' promotional kiosk.

We've been discussing the theme in Fresh & Easy Buzz that Wal-Mart, Inc.'s new Marketside format and stores -- the first four which opened officially on Saturday in the Phoenix, Arizona area cities of Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa and Tempe -- are a different retail animal from a strategic positioning standpoint than Tesco's Fresh & Easy stores are because for Wal-Mart Marketside is just one part of a four-format (Supercenters, Sam's Club, Neighborhood Market supermarkets and now Marketside) food and grocery retailing retail format strategy while Fresh & Easy is currently a single-play, single-format strategy in the U.S. for Tesco.

For example, we discussed the theme as part of an observational, analysis and commentary piece in the Blog published yesterday: "Wal-Mart's Marketside is More Than the Sum of the Parts of its Other Formats; While Time and Consumers Will Judge, We See the Format As A Stategic Fit."

In this piece today we outline and explain what we believe is a powerful marketing and merchandising aspect and tool of Wal-Mart's multi-format food and grocery retailing strategy which the retailer could use to not only create what we believe could be thousands of new customers (trial) for its four Phoenix region Marketside stores, but also use as an ongoing high-impact, low-cost marketing and cross-promotional tool which leverages its existing resources.

Those specific existing resources are the Wal-Mart Supercenter stores located in and near the four cities where the Marketside grocery and fresh foods stores are located.

Wal-Mart has about 70 Supercenters currently open and operating in Arizona. Additionally, there are a number of these Supercenters in and around Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa and Tempe, the four cities where the new Marketside stores are located.

Each Wal-Mart Supercenter is a form of media in and of itself in that tens of thousands of shoppers visit a typical Wal-Mart Supercenter each week. That's why so many consumer packaged goods marketers use (and pay to do so) Wal-Mart as their in-store advertising and promotional medium -- point-of purchase displays, brand signage, in-store brand videos, ect. It's also why Wal-Mart uses what's referred to as in-store shopper marketing so frequently. This essentially is using the store as the marketing medium as we described above.

With that introduction to the premise, here is one marketing and merchandising campaign we would launch right away for the four Phoenix region Marketside stores using the various Wal-Mart Supercenters located in and around the four Phoenix area cities.

The Marketside Supercenter Kiosk Campaign

First, we would install a "Marketside Kiosk" in every one of these nearby Supercenters. The kiosk would be about 400 -to- 600 square feet in size and located in a promenant part of the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Many Supercenters have space in the front of the stores designed for such promotional purposes. So in most cases that's where our kiosk would go.

The design of the in-Superstore Marketside Kiosk would mimic how the Marketside stores look essentially in terms of graphics and the like. It would be a mini faux Marketside store if you will.

The focus of the kiosk would be informational -- with brochures about Marketside, coupons to be used at Marketside handed out and related informational pieces. The kiosk would have a person working in it at all store hours. It also would be sensual -- tastes of Marketside preapred foods items being sampled in the kiosk.

Additionally, the Marketside in-Superstore kiosk would focus primarily (but not exclusively) from a merchandising or product selection aspect on the prepared foods offerings at the Marketside stores.

Prepared foods

For example,there would be a service refrigerated case in the kiosk where a person would hand out free samples of a changing selection of the various fresh, prepared foods offered in the four Marketside stores.

Mini mock-up

The kiosk would also have some mock shelving and such with a representative selection of products sold in Marketside so as to create that "Mini Marketside" store effect for the kiosk as we described earlier. Doing so also provides and reinforces the informational purpose of the in-Supercenter Marketside Kiosk.

Cross-promotional tool

We also would use the kiosk (and parts of the Supercenter) as a cross-promotional tool.

For example, we would place point-of purchase signs at every checkout lane in the front-end of the Supercenters. These signs would tell customers checking out that if they purchased $25 or more at the Wal-Mart Supercenter they could come over to the in-store Marketside Kiosk with their purchase receipt and receive a coupon good for free prepared foods items (say a $6 dinner entree) at one of the four Marketside stores.

We would run this promotion say twice a week for a month to start to create impact. Also, doing so on a more frequent basis could get expensive.

This in-store promotion does two things. First it drives shoppers over to the in-Supercenter Marketside Kiosk. Second, it ties-in what they purchased at the Supercenter with what they now can get for free at Marketside. We think it's a safe bet the majority of the Supercenter shoppers aren't going to have been previously aware the Marketside stores exist. They would be with this in-store promotion. They also sould spread the news through word of mouth advertising.

The cross-promotion is all about creating awareness of -- and driving consumers to -- one or more of the Marketside stores. Since you are dealing with existing Wal-Mart shoppers under the Supercenter roof, that's an additional bonus, since there's an implied loyalty to Wal-Mart by virtue of the fact the shoppers are shopping a Supercenter.

A 'Taste of Marketside'

Another in-Supercenter promotional event we would hold, using the Marketside Kiosk as the central organizing principle and marketing vehicle in-store, is a "Wal-Mart Supercenter Taste of Marketside."

We would pick a Saturday in which we would bring in selected employees from all four of the Arizona Marketside stores to the nearby Supercenters. Sampling stations would be strategically set up throughout the Supercenter -- from the produce department to the automobile parts department -- where prepared foods items from Marketside would be sampled to Supercenter customers by the visiting Marketside store employees. Of course, as part of the tasting the employees would hand out Marketside brochures, coupons and other promotional goodies to Supercenter shoppers, along with the various "tastes of Marketside" in the form of the prepared foods samples.

Each shopper also would receive a raffle ticket from the folks at the sampling stations. We would hold a drawing every 30 minutes in which a $25 gift certificate for free goods at the Marketside stores would be given away.

In order to get in the drawing, the shoppers would have to bring their raffle ticket to the in-Superstore Marketside Kiosk. That's where the raffle would be held. The drawing would take place in the kiosk and the winner announced each 30 minutes over the store's public address system. This would serve to not only create excitement but bring the shoppers back to the kiosk for a second look at Marketside. (they also need to return to the kiosk to get their coupon when they win the raffle.) It also makes shoppers linger longer -- and perhaps make additional purchases -- in the Supercenter. That's promotional synergy.

Synergy

Such promotional campaigns as we describe above are all about creating synergies. And only multi-format retailers can do so in the way we describe.

Additionally, the promotion is all about the "piggy back effect." That is using the established "big guy" (the Wal-Mart Supercenter) to assist the new, fledgling "little guy," (Marketside). Of course because of the synergies, the "big guy" benefits from assisting the "little guy," which is how it should be in muti-format retailing cross promotions, as well as it should be with life in general.

Marketside Kiosk as central promotional element

The Marketside Kiosk is the central promotional element -- and glue -- of this in-Supercenter cross-promotional campaign. The actual tactics we listed and detailed are far from the only ones that can be used once the kiosk is set up in the Supercenters. Additional promotions can be created, as well as having additional promotions feed off the ones we described.

The store is the medium, the kiosk the message

The store (Supercenter) is the marketing medium and the Marketside Kiosk is the message.

Think of it as just another aspect of shopper marketing. But instead of promoting brands and products in-store, you're promoting one of Wal-Mart's other formats -- it's newest one and the one that is different from all the others because of its "food-centric" premise, Marketside.

A promotion like this, which is cheap and uses existing resources (the Supercenters), can only be done by a multi-format retailer, as we mentioned earlier. You've got to have more than one format and the stores to do it.

We think its powerful because of the captured consumer audience that exists in the Supercenters, the pleasure shoppers get from food sampling in-store, the synergies it creates for both Marketside and the Supercenters, and a number of other high-impact reasons.

Most important, it will create much awareness about and drive lots of new customers to the four new Marketside stores in the four Phoenix Metro region cities. And once that phase of the in-Supercenter campaign is over, the kiosk can easily be used if desired for various promotions designed not only to generate new custoemrs for Marketside but also to retain them, along with coming up with various ways to assist in increasing the market basket sizes at the Marketside stores.

Think of it using a trade show analogy as well. The Wal-Mart Supercenters are the trade show floor, the Markeside Kiosk is the trade show booth, and the Supercenter customers are all prospective customers for the trade show's (in this case Marketeside) product, which is being offered in the "booth."

After all, the "big guys' (Supercenters) should always be the first in the family (Wal-Mart, Inc.) to give an assist to the "little guy," (Marketside). And with such synergies in play, that "big guy" will gain additional benefits for giving his smaller cousin (Marketside) that helping promotional hand.

Coming soon: What Tesco's Fresh & Easy can do counter-promotionally as a single-format retailer.