NYT: Grocery stores move toward customer-specific pricing

[mike_c]

9. no, you visit a web site and sign in to a personal acct....

Once there, you are presented with a bunch of product discounts that are supposedly tailored to your personal buying habits-- remember, Safeway has been collecting data on customers' choices ever since they introduced their club card, which gives them a means of tying grocery purchases to individuals who use their club card in exchange for discounts on products all over the store. On the web site, you are offered discounts on products they think you might be interested in, and you select the ones you think you might buy, which is just like clipping coupons IMO-- that's the rub, for me, since I rarely take the time to actually go to the web site. But the discounts usually last for a couple of weeks or more, so if you check it often you can theoretically build a stash of upcoming discounts that will be good at least until your next shopping trip. You can also access your account with a smart phone or tablet app so you can remind yourself which products you've been offered discounts on while browsing the aisles.