FOOD FIGHT! Target Expands Groceries to Keep Up With Walmart

by Debbie Clark (DealDebbie) | More from this Blogger

27 May 2009 04:43 AM

I love Target's coupons. Their website is one of the best for giving you printable Target coupons which really save you money. I love the merchandise, the convenience, and even the cashiers who don't always understand couponese.

I have only one problem with every Target I have visited that is not a Super Target. There just isn't enough on the shelves in grocery, cleaning, and health and beauty. They run out of things. There isn't much variety. Sometimes they don't have the very items their website generates coupons for.

Groceries and items that we buy with coupons have not been a mainstay for Target. They're known for quality clothing, home decor, household equipment, gifts, and toys. Walmart is the world's largest retailer - and Target runs a distant second. So now, Target is planning to stock more fresh food, and emphasize low prices.

Of course, Walmart is responding by expanding the home furnishing section that Target is know for, and making changes to their store brand food items.

We just love competition - especially when it is about price. This could get to be a lot of fun. But for those of us without a Super Target close by, let's hope the fun includes a better selection of grocery items, with more to choose from, and incredible deals on everyday items we need. And a price war sounds like lots of fun!

Here are some suggestions for how Target and Walmart can really compete for the customer who uses coupons and is systematically frugal:

1. Accept each other's coupons, or have limited periods of accepting competitor coupons.

2. Offer a price match guarantee - if you find a lower price, they will match it.

3. Have the coupon redemption policies clearly posted for customer and cashier at each register. This includes coupons for multiple items, any limitations on the total number of coupons, and stacked deals.

4. Better training of cashiers and employees to understand coupons and the coupon customer. It's frustrating to be told "one coupon per purchase" - and so you have to ring up ten bottles of shampoo in separate individual transactions if you want to use ten coupons, to everyone's annoyance. "One coupon per purchase" means if you buy 1 bottle of shampoo, you use one coupon. If you buy 10, you use 10 coupons - they match each item purchased!.

It's important for store employees to note that it helps no one when they tell us that those coupon people are scamming the store and costing lots of money. Some have even gone so far as to ask if deal hunters are part of "those internet gangs", meaning blogs like this one, and trading forums. It is really amusing - and infuriating - to be told that "the store is watching people like you". Most cashiers and managers appreciate the customer who saves big, but some behave as though we are criminals. This is not good customer relations. Serious coupon people will pull out the cell phone and call the corporate office right there. Having clearly posted store policies concerning coupon redemption at each register is really important for avoiding these confrontations.

5. Match promotions to current coupons. The sales this past two weeks of Kraft products with all the $1 printables are a case in point - coupon people were able to choose which store for which deal.

Related forum posts:

Walmart Freebies

Why Are Target Employees Uneducated On Their Own Policy?

Which Stores Take Both Man. Coup + Store Coup on One Item?

Learn more about Debbie Clark (DealDebbie)

I'm a veteran deal hunter with two grown sons. I have been clipping coupons and doubling up with rebates and sales and points rewards since they were babies.

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