Groupon goes grocery shopping

The group buying giant teams with Supervalu and Unilever to offer groupons for groceries

For those of us who love Groupon but still want to remain frugal with our money, it can be really frustrating to get Groupons for mani-pedis, Brazilian waxing, trendy restaurants, and yoga classes.  Since my New Year’s Resolution this year was to “get shit together,” starting with my finances, that means cutting back to stay within my budget—which means going out to eat once a month instead of once a week (and if I’m eating out only once a month, it’s going to be at my favorite restaurant: Old Spaghetti Factory). 

This is why I get excited when I hear about Groupon experimenting with groceries.  Groupons for groceries are as practical as you can get and really speak to my level of poverty.  And now, Groupon is offering deals in Chicago for groceries at all JEWEL-OSCO grocery store locations in Chicago. 

To be specific, Chicago shoppers can get $15 worth of ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s, Popsicle, Good Humor, Breyer’s, and Klondike for $9, a 40% discount.  Customers can get the discount by purchasing the deal on Groupon and entering their JEWEL-OSCO Preferred Customer Card number (if they don’t have one, they can sign up online).  When the transaction is complete, the deal is loaded onto the JEWEL-OSCO card and the customer is free to go get himself some ice cream.  And it looks like plenty of Chicagoans are already jumping on the deal--moer than 1,300 Chicago Groupon subscribers have already purchased the deal. 

To make the deal happen, Groupon and Incentive Targeting (the same consumer behavior analytics company that Groupon worked with on its last grocery deal) teamed up with SUPERVALU, which owns JEWEL-OSCO, and Unilever, which owns Klondike, Ben & Jerry’s, Popsicle, Good Humor, and Breyer’s.

 “Using the combined Groupon and Incentive Targeting system, CPGs [consumer packaged goods] like Unilever and grocery companies like SUPERVALU can deliver great offers to their shoppers, measure the effectiveness in real time, and follow up with highly desirable shoppers with attractive targeted programs,” said Win Burke, President and CEO of Incentive Targeting, in a statement.

Groupon tried out its last grocery store deal in June, when it teamed up with Big Y Foods, a Springfield, MA-based grocery store chain, to offer $40 worth of seafood for $24.

Image source: Groupon.com