Skip navigation

A Sensible Solution at Kmart

Kmart could be on the fast track to private-label growth with its new Smart Sense line. Not only has the retailer launched a new grocery brand, it’s aggressively promoting it, both internally and externally.

Internally, it’s touting the brand in corporate publications and sampling events at its corporate office.

Externally, the brand is featured on displays and shopping bags, and in store circulars and email blasts.

What’s more, Smart Sense is part of the retailer’s year-old Smart Assist initiative, in which it gives the unemployed a 20% discount on its store brands.

Kmart customers who present a state-issued identification and a state-issued unemployment benefits enrollment confirmation are eligible to participate in the program. Once they register, they get a Smart Assist Savings Card valid for six months. They get $10 in coupons just for signing up.

While food retailers have offered different types of recession-buster promotions, Smart Assist is unique because its private-label specific.

Even when their discount expires, shoppers will remember that Kmart - and its family of brands -helped them out during a tough economic time.