Wegmans: The Little Things that Foster Customer Loyalty
I was at a Wegmans, a regional supermarket chain, in NJ earlier today and noticed a small touch which made an impression. They have checkout lanes which are marked “No Candy Lanes”.
Companies spend significant effort attracting new customers and often try lavish loyalty programs, but sometimes, its little gestures that show you understand your customers that make a real impression. For all those parents who now don’t have to worry about their children begging for candy at checkout, Wegmans has made grocery shopping a bit more pleasant. And all of this by some simple signs above the checkout lines.
Tags: acquisition, customer lifetime value, customer loyaty, retention, wegmans
August 20th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
It’s possible, though, that they just don’t want children to grab and potentially steal their candy.
But I suppose the cost of the “No Candy Lane” sign would be more than the actual value of the stolen candy. But who knows, maybe it adds up.
It’s also possible that these lanes are then stocked with magazines and other products that would appeal only to parents.
(You can kind of see all of the soap opera magazines in the picture)
Just a thought.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Sohum,
Thanks very much for your comment. These are interesting points. If the reason behind the sign was theft prevention as you mention, it actually makes little sense and this is why I don’t believe this is the logic behind them.
1. If a child wants to steal candy, they’ll just go to the lane that has it. If theft was the issue, the signs just make the job easier for the child as they know which lanes not to go into (assuming the child can even read).
2. If you believe the child is being supervised by an adult, the theft prevention argument would mean that lanes with candy in them experience theft and that parents are either complicit in the theft or too oblivious to know there kid is stealing. This is probably an unlikely scenario. In the ‘extreme’ case that a parent is sanctioning their child’s theft of candy, the signs just make the theft easier although I would doubt there are such rogue parents out there (or at least I hope)
Logic aside, if you’ve ever seen a kid in a grocery store wailing at checkout because he wants bubble gum which his eyes have fixated on in the checkout line, it becomes apparent that this is for parental sanity.
To your second point, the lack of candy does open up space for selling more magazines that appeal to parents. Since Wegmans may now know that someone in that aisle is likely a parent, they might/should/probably customize the offerings in that lane to be more parent-friendly.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Regards,
Anand
Brilliont
August 20th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Hey Anand,
I absolutely see your point, but I was referring more to children like the one in the actual sign. The ones who are in the cart and are just reaching for wrappers while their parent is unloading the groceries. I imagine older children would know not to steal and more importantly be able to control their desire for candy…but i’m not yet a parent and I wasn’t ever really fond of candy so I can’t speak about this much.
This was my first time writing on a blog, and quite frankly it was quite exciting. Thanks for the feedback.
Cheers,
Sohum
August 21st, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I shop at Wegmans and this picture needs some explanation. The No Candy Lane sign is for the next lane over that you can’t see. The magazines that you can see are in the lane closer to you than the No Candy Lane.
Frequently the No Candy Lanes have childrens books in place of the candy.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Sohum - Thanks for the followup comment. Glad to hear your first experience writing on a blog has been a good one.
FrequentShopper - Appreciate the comment and the clarification. Replacing candy with books. Sounds like a customer and societal benefit