Kroger has announced a new online coupon center available on its Website. Now you can log in with your Kroger account and find Kroger brand, manufacturer and web-only coupons for use in any Kroger retail grocery store. Plus, rather than having to print out these coupons, you can simply select them and they will be automatically loaded onto your Kroger Plus Card for activation during in-store checkout.
Now, don’t get me wrong. This is pretty cool. But doesn’t it seem like one step short of what would be really awesome?
I mean, they’re making coupon clipping a whole lot easier. But if they’re going so far to improve the customer experience, why don’t they simply automate the whole process of manufacturer coupons? Because they clearly have the technology in place to do so. Imagine if every time you went to Kroger, they automatically applied every possible manufacturer coupon you could take advantage of. You’d love them. But with this current setup, you’re still doing the work yourself.
It’s like if Henry Ford built a car, but left out the engine and had a horse pull it instead. Perhaps Kroger simply doesn’t want to ruffle the manufacturer’s feathers. But someone’s going to beat them to the punch. And I feel like they’re missing a big first-to-market opportunity here.