Fast Five Shorts | Sprouts To Launch First-ever Loyalty Program
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Simbe, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: Sprouts Launching Its First-ever Loyalty Program
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/mJ9TENRdNnE
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Transcript
Sprouts will soon launch its first ever chain wide loyalty program according to grocery dive.
Speaker A: esults across test markets in: Speaker A: uote during the first half of: Speaker A:Sinclair added with without providing any additional information.
Speaker A:Chris, how surprised were you to learn that Sprouts didn't already have a loyalty program?
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B: rviewed to be the CEO back in: Speaker B:I mean I can only imagine the look on his face.
Speaker B:He's probably like what?
Speaker B:Wtf?
Speaker B:You guys don't have a loyalty program?
Speaker B:Yeah, I see the dollar sign streaming through his eyes at that point like I got to take this job because that's, that's the low hanging fruit.
Speaker B:He's probably pitched that.
Speaker B:I, I can see him like when he's interviewing people that come to Sprouts.
Speaker B:He's like dude, guys, we don't have, they don't even have a loyalty program.
Speaker B:That's the opportunity we're talking about.
Speaker B:Here you come.
Speaker B:We're going to kill this.
Speaker B:We're going to do so well.
Speaker B:And, and Sprouts is killing it.
Speaker B:That's the thing that's crazy too.
Speaker B:They don't have a loyalty program and they're killing it.
Speaker B:The cops 11 and a half percent last quarter.
Speaker B:And a loyalty program is only going to add fuel to the fire.
Speaker B:And the other thing about this too that I think is important is particularly in loyalty.
Speaker B:And loyalty in this day and age is digital and Sprouts customers are showing that they want to engage with Sprouts digitally too, which is something new and I think interesting that people didn't know about before because almost.
Speaker B:And did you know this?
Speaker B:Almost 15% of sprout sales come from digital.
Speaker B:That's crazy.
Speaker B:So yeah, it's not.
Speaker B:Or the digital.
Speaker B:Digital.
Speaker B:It's probably not come from digital but like there's a digital component to 15% of their sales.
Speaker B:So this e commerce 15%.
Speaker A:So like through, through like Instacart or something.
Speaker A:That's where people are finding them right now.
Speaker B:Yeah, probably like Instacart curbside it probably.
Speaker B:Okay, pickup all the E commerce, Internet, all the.
Speaker B:Got it said e commerce is 15% of their business.
Speaker B:So you know Jack and his team are just doing an awesome job.
Speaker B:And the fact that this is a bullet in the chamber that is just now being loaded is, is wild to me.
Speaker B:It's absolutely wild.
Speaker B:Like, how does a grocer not have a loyalty program?
Speaker B:My co op has a loyalty program down the road.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Like, I know, but it's weird though.
Speaker A:Like Ken, you ever noticed that when, I mean, granted we are only stopping in sprouts when we're traveling because we still don't have one nearby.
Speaker B:I have one.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But like I've never even thought about that or noticed it going into a sprouts before.
Speaker A:Like, I'm just like, oh, I just really like shopping in the store.
Speaker A:It's great and things are fresh and quality is good and all these things.
Speaker A:So I think you're 100% right.
Speaker A:I mean, we talked about this last week with Save a lot too.
Speaker A:Like they don't have a loyalty program.
Speaker A:They didn't have a loyalty program either.
Speaker A:This is like the easiest low hanging fruit that you can get, like you said.
Speaker A:I also think that there's another edge to this that I find interesting.
Speaker A:And not to say that they're going to be like hugely discounting things for their loyalty members, but it does open up them opportunity for them to start to do special kinds of offers and previews for their Sprouts loyalty members.
Speaker A:But I think that Sprout still is a little bit higher price point than Trader Joe's.
Speaker A:And now I think that once you start to bring this loyalty program in and you're giving these discounts, like, I think there's going to be a huge grab from the Trader Joe's audience who are like this.
Speaker A:Sprouts has better quality, they have national brands in there.
Speaker A:It's, it's really going to lead people from Trader Joe's.
Speaker A:And I think conversely, you also have a pull that you'll get from Whole Foods participants to or Whole Foods customers too because you don't have the cold, sterile environment that you've talked about with the Whole Foods Amazon partnership.
Speaker A:Now you have like all the best parts of Sprouts.
Speaker A:The best quality, the best store experience and now potentially a lower price point for it.
Speaker A:I mean, I think that they've just got it in the bag and it's, it's like we already have said watch out for sprouts, but I think, I think they're on a trajectory with this that you talked about.
Speaker A:Like it's going to be a huge, huge impact as they continue to expand across the country.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're only in 24 states.
Speaker B:The other point I make that I make on what you just said, too, is like sprouts.
Speaker B:Sprouts will willingly admit they're an additional trip.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like you're the trip you stop at sprouts when you're going on another errand.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so a loyalty program only amplifies the fact that you would want to stop there on that trip.
Speaker B:So it's perfectly synergistic with how they position themselves in the market, to your point about grabbing Trader Joe's and Whole Foods customers over time, so.
