Brookshire Grocery makes marketing personal with SAP

Tyler, Texas – Millennials are gaining buying power, and a substantial shift to Millennials in the retail marketplace will occur by 2020. For 152-store supermarket retailer Brookshire Grocery Co., the time to start reacting to this developing change is now.



“We needed to figure out how to market to this customer base and make it relevant to them,” said John D’Anna, senior VP and CIO of Brookshire Grocery.



Brookshire had already moved from mass marketing to marketing efforts targeted at specific customer segments. However, the retailer realized to have its message resonate with Millennials, it would need to deliver advertisements, prices, and recipes and meal solutions targeted to individual consumers. An established SAP enterprise technology customer since 2004, Brookshire turned to a familiar source for personalized consumer engagement.



“We needed an integrated process to engrain customer data throughout the organization,” said D’Anna. “To be relevant with the customer, we had to know a lot more about them and talk to them in real time. We realized SAP had all the pieces.”



Working with SAP solutions partner N Spro, Brookshire has enabled category managers to view all promotions that are running and see coupon redemptions in real time. Brookshire is also identifying new customer segments and demographics for targeting, as well as executing a new loyalty program. In the future, the retailer intends to send targeted offers to in-store customers through its mobile app, and also offer in-aisle targeted discounts using geofencing.



Brookshire has determined that a digitally engaged “core” customer who is loyal will spend $600 more annually and is 21% more likely to remain core than a non-engaged core customer. In addition, a digitally engaged “opportunity” shopper who visits Brookshire occasionally will spend $675 more annually than a non-engaged peer, and is also 27% more likely to remain an opportunity shopper and 156% more likely to graduate to core status.



“We see a huge opportunity to drive more loyalty and profit,” commented D’Anna.