For years, shoppers grabbing poultry and Pringles at Stop & Shop could claim the best deals online. But only online.
Stop & Shop’s digital coupons, advertised in 99-cent deals and “10 percent off” signs across the store, were available only after people had loaded the offer onto their GO Rewards store loyalty account on their phones or computers. They were not automatically applied at checkout — a pain for seniors and low-income shoppers especially.
New kiosks at Stop & Shop locations could change the game. Dubbed “Savings Stations,” the devices let customers unlock discounts onsite, without an internet connection. Customers who input their account or phone number will receive a printout of their digital coupons to reference while browsing the aisles, and savings will be tacked on without any further prompting.
Stop & Shop piloted the kiosks in a few stores last year and is now operating them across New England. The remaining locations in New York and New Jersey will have kiosks running in January.
“This rollout marks another change we’re making to remove friction and improve the shopping experience for our customers,” said Roger Wheeler, president of Stop & Shop. “We heard from customers who felt they were missing out on valuable digital coupon savings, and the Savings Station is our response to that feedback.”
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff/The Boston Globe
The move follows years of advocacy by consumer groups, who sent a letter to a dozen major grocers in 2022 urging an end to digital-only coupons. They alleged that stores took advantage of shoppers’ misunderstanding of the system to charge them higher prices or force them to miss out on advertised offers. In one example, a “digitally disconnected” shopper would have paid $15 more for a 15-pound Thanksgiving turkey than they would by claiming the online deal.
A September survey from the retail news blog Consumer World found that nearly one-third of shoppers were not able to correctly explain how to redeem an advertised digital discount. Among shoppers who got it, a fourth still ran into technical difficulties when accessing the savings.
Edgar Dworsky, Consumer World’s founder, said he hopes that other grocers follow Stop & Shop’s lead as high food prices remain top of mind for Massachusetts residents.
Grocery costs in Greater Boston have long outpaced most of the country, and experts have said that the region lacks a single grocery retailer large enough to cut prices and force competitors to do the same. Some chains already allow shoppers to redeem digital coupons with the cashier, but Star Market and Shaw’s have yet to formally change their policy, Dworsky said.
The victims, advocates say, are the 25 percent of older adults nationwide who do not use the internet, and thousands who earn under $30,000 and live without reliable broadband access, according to data from Pew Research.
“When you think about who is disadvantaged, it’s people who do not have smartphones or internet access,” Dworksy added. “They need the savings more than anyone. It really is heartening to see Stop & Shop do this, and I hope it spurs other companies to do the same thing.”
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com. Follow her @ditikohli_.
