Tracy Flynn, vice president of food industry marketing for NCR Corp., which manufactures computer systems that make such programs feasible, estimated more than 7,800 stores around the nation have such programs, with 2,000 more set to begin them in the next few years. Safeway started a new loyalty program this spring at 124 stores across the Washington region, while Fresh Fields rolled out a program in 11 stores locally. A few dozen Food Lion stores across the region also have shopper cards. More than a dozen Super Fresh stores around the region also have shopper cards. The chain uses them to tabulate how much shoppers spend, not what they buy.
Cardholders can automatically receive free or discounted items.
Officials at Safeway and Fresh Fields said customers have rushed to enroll in the programs, sharing their names, addresses, birth dates, telephone numbers and other data in exchange for discounts. They invariably say, 'I love it. The reality of loyalty programs is far more complex than simple trade-offs at cash registers. At grocery stores, which are just beginning to get a handle on the data they amass, information about individual customers is constantly analyzed in extremely sophisticated ways. After the information is gathered at checkout counters, it typically is stored in swift computer systems known as data warehouses.