Hy-Vee Bridges Physical and Digital Worlds Through Innovation
Hy-Vee, an employee-owned Midwest retailer, enjoys enormous popularity across its stores, regularly earning honors amongst the nation’s favorite supermarkets. They also have a reputation for rapid innovation. This freedom to experiment has led Hy-Vee to take an unconventional approach to retail, enabling them to successfully and nimbly test and learn new programs while keeping consumers happy and loyal.
Joe Hammond, Group Vice President of Brand Strategy and Insights at Hy-Vee, and Matt Krepsik, Chief Technology Officer at Quotient, recently joined Path to Purchase at their recent Retail Media in Action event to discuss how Hy-Vee is bridging the gap between physical and digital worlds and the new tools they’re using to harness true omnichannel and retail media innovation. Watch the full session recording below and keep reading for more details.
Driving Innovation Through Data
Hy-Vee leans heavily on data, technology and measurement to drive their approach to innovation, with store directors as their first line of data. These directors have the ability to determine how they engage with their community, how they bring promotions to life, which local products they carry and more. And what Hy-Vee’s data has shown them is that consumers are more valuable when they are digitally engaged. However, not every shopper who relies on print is ready to embrace digital technologies. That’s where Hy-Vee’s “Hot Deals” come in.
In order to bring more print-first customers into their digital ecosystem, Hy-Vee leveraged Quotient’s technology to create a website offering shoppers high-value digital print coupons that they can print at home and redeem in-store—mimicking a print retailer circular but with the ability to target shoppers with personalized offers and offsite media.
"We’re able to work with [Quotient] and do significant off-property media leveraging our first-party data, but with the end goal of getting [customers] engaged with our on-property."
By using Hot Deals to ease shoppers into digital technologies, Hy-Vee maintains a shopper-first focus. This kind of “inclusive innovation” enables Hy-Vee to connect with all of their consumers—not just the tech-savvy early adopters—and engage with them across the most relevant touchpoints for each individual.
Customer-First Marketing Pays Off
Since launching the Hot Deals program, Hy-Vee has seen enormous engagement across physical and digital properties, setting records in app downloads, digital coupon downloads, and loyalty program registrations.
In addition to the digital print coupons, Hy-Vee also leverages Quotient’s promotion amplification to inform shoppers of relevant weekly temporary price reductions (TPRs) based on that person’s buying habits. This enables Hy-Vee to put the right offer in front of the right person at the right time wherever they’re at in their purchasing journey. Instead of showing the consumer all the products on TPR, Hy-Vee uses this targeted media to bring them on-site to add the product to their cart or clip a digital coupon—ultimately enabling Hy-Vee to bring more shoppers into their digital sphere, surround them with value and encourage them to engage digitally.
"[Promotion amplification] drives personalized, one-to-one communication so that all shoppers can understand the value proposition that Hy-Vee is delivering each and every day with their vendor partners and what the exciting opportunities are for them in-store, at scale."
Ultimately, personalized communication amplifies the value that brands deliver to shoppers by thoughtfully nurturing the customer journey to increase brand touchpoints and communication for all shoppers. Furthermore, closed-loop measurement and attribution sheds light on the impact of each campaign. Hy-Vee remains focused not only on delivering innovative media and marketing but also on demonstrating the value they’re creating for vendor partners and shoppers through measurement.
Final Session Takeaways
Both panelists closed out the session with their key takeaways. At the core of their message was that retailers should always put the customer first. Done right, retail media should improve the shopper experience. By using data and insights to better understand their shoppers, Hy-Vee is able to personalize each touchpoint and engage with shoppers how, when and where they prefer to engage.
"At the end of the day, it’s just about people standing in front of a retailer and looking to buy a product."
For more information on how Quotient can help you plan your next retail media campaign, contact us at quotient@communications.com.
