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Kroger Defends Double Coupon Elimination

NEW YORK — Kroger’s chief financial officer on Tuesday defended the chain’s recent discontinuation of double coupons in several markets, saying the practice was “a very expensive reward proposition that a very small number of [our] customers actually engage in.”

Jon Springer, Executive Editor

May 15, 2013

1 Min Read
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NEW YORK — Kroger Co.’s chief financial officer on Tuesday defended the chain’s recent discontinuation of double coupons in several markets, saying the practice was “a very expensive reward proposition that a very small number of [our] customers actually engage in.”

Speaking at BMO Capital’s Farm to Market conference, Michael Schlotman said eliminating double coupons has helped the company invest in lower everyday prices that benefitted a larger group of shoppers than the chain’s heavy coupon shoppers.

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“Now, they're a very vocal part of your customer base, and they don't like it when you stop giving them that reward,” he said. “But the percentage of customers who actually enjoyed the benefit of that, our view was we were better off taking those dollars and investing them in better prices for all of our customers rather than rewarding just a select segment of our customers.”

Kroger introduced lower everyday prices to coincide with the removal of double-couponing. Kroger so far has stopped doubling coupons in Houston, Southern California, Cincinnati and most recently in the Mid-Atlantic states.

 

About the Author

Jon Springer

Executive Editor

Jon Springer is executive editor of Winsight Grocery Business with responsibility for leading its digital news team. Jon has more than 20 years of experience covering consumer business and retail in New York, including more than 14 years at the Retail/Financial desk at Supermarket News. His previous experience includes covering consumer markets for KPMG’s Insiders; the U.S. beverage industry for Beverage Spectrum; and he was a Senior Editor covering commercial real estate and retail for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Jon began his career as a sports reporter and features editor for the Cecil Whig, a daily newspaper in Elkton, Md. Jon is also the author of two books on baseball. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English-Journalism from the University of Delaware. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with his family.

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