Albertsons eases digital shopping with two new offerings
Albertsons Companies Inc. is launching new digital meal planning and automated replenishment services.
The new capabilities, Meal Planning and Schedule & Save, are designed to offer members of Albertsons’ loyalty program integrated menu planning and shopping list creation, as well as the ability to auto-replenish essential items on their lists.
Meal Planning
The company’s new Meal Planning feature seamlessly integrates the Mealtime meal planning app to offer a personalized way to plan meals and cook recipes. Loyalty program members have access to thousands of shoppable recipes developed by professional chefs and dietitians that are curated based on taste and dietary preferences. The feature includes options for pick-up and delivery or in-store shopping.
Schedule & Save
Albertsons Cos. is also unveiling “Schedule & Save,” a new online auto-replenishment offering that enables loyalty members to automatically replenish their more frequently purchased items across categories. The products scheduled for purchase will be offered at a discounted price, for pick-up or delivery.
Currently available to select Safeway customers in northern California, Schedule & Save was developed in partnership with auto-replenishment and predictive shopping platform Replenium. In 2022, Albertsons plans to expand the program nationwide and include a continuous expanding list of items for members to add for auto-replenishment.
These new features are part of Albertsons Cos.’ ongoing goal to overhaul its digital offerings. For example, Albertsons recently entered a new multi-year agreement with Pinterest to enable its customers to discover and shop food items via the visually-oriented social platform. Features of the partnership will include a meal-planning API, designed to make recipes seamlessly shoppable by integrating saved pins straight into the Albertsons banner app. Shoppers will be able to add all of the ingredients to their cart in one click, and the integration will also recommend what consumers should make based on searches, saves, and purchase history.
Albertsons is also partnering with the Firework short-form video platform in a multi-fold initiative. In the current initial phase, Albertsons will use Firework to deploy short video content and cooking experiences on its various banner websites. The partnership will expand offerings and experiences in 2022.
These initiatives came on the heels of three new digital offerings Albertsons rolled out in August 2021. These include FreshPass, an optional subscription service integrated into the new Albertsons apps. FreshPass offers unlimited free delivery on orders $30 or more; and in select markets, free two-hour grocery delivery and curbside pickup.
In addition, the company debuted its new loyalty program called “Albertsons for U,” as well as new deals & delivery app that seamlessly integrates both the “Albertsons for U” loyalty program and the FreshPass subscription service.
“Our customers continue to look for new ways to save time and money when planning meals and shopping at their neighborhood Albertsons Cos. banner store,” said Chris Rupp, Albertsons Cos. executive VP and chief customer & digital officer. “These two new features are important ways we’re helping customers reduce the effort associated with grocery shopping so they can spend the time enjoying meals with family and friends.”
Albertsons Cos. operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia with more than 20 banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci's Food Lovers Market.