Safeway\'s Use of Social Media in Today\'s

Safeway's Use Of Social Media

In today's ever more crowded marketplace, with online retailers and wholesale outlets competing directly with traditional grocers, modern consumers have literally hundreds of options to choose from when deciding where they will purchase food, household supplies and other necessities. Faced with the sobering reality that the traditional model of customer loyalty, based as it was for decades on a customer's proximity to a store's location and regional affinities, has now been replaced by a virtual open-air market, major supermarket chains like Safeway, Albertson's and Bashas' have all devised loyalty programs based on social media interaction in an effort to retain precious market share. Typically based on the concept of a preferred customer club, these loyalty programs driven by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social networking outlets incentivize repeat visits to a particular supermarket outlet by offering significant discounts to cardholders at the register. Akin to the ubiquitous coupon barrages which deluged daily newspapers during prior generations, today's supermarket loyalty programs succeed by isolating the savings offered and delivering them specifically to consumers who are likely to provide repeated patronage.

As a Safeway shopper since childhood, I am very familiar with the grocer's "Safeway Club," a program which issued me laminated and labeled cards to signify my membership. Safeway maintains well-ran Facebook page and Twitter accounts and through participation in the programs offered by these social media platforms (by "liking" the Safeway Facebook page, and "following" the store's Twitter feed), I am afforded the inside track to daily deals, long-term savings and other ancillary benefits. As a shopper, when I enter a Safeway store either at home or when visiting other cities, I know that my status as a club card member entitles me to lower prices and special offers, knowledge which invariably motivates me to purchase a greater variety of items than I originally intended. As the Safeway.com website proclaims proudly, "with your Club Card, you can enjoy exclusive savings all across the store & #8230; (and) Safeway Club Card membership entitles you to enjoy all our special money-saving promotions" (Safeway Inc.), and despite knowing that every shopper in America is eligible for membership, the illusion of exclusivity Safeway instills in the program inevitably compels me to shop there and there alone. One of the most appealing features of Safeway's Club Card program is the clear identification of your membership-based savings on the receipt of every purchase, because this highlighted number provides tangible evidence of saving in action. Having used a Safeway Club Card for more than eight years, I can definitely attest to both the attractiveness and the effectiveness of customer loyalty programs.