Greetings from sunny Orlando, Florida and welcome to the SavingsAngel show!
I am Josh Elledge, consumer expert and money-saving advocate, and the Chief Executive Angel of SavingsAngel.
I’ve appeared over 1500 times in the media, including on television in 76 cities and on the radio, and I write a syndicated newspaper column.
Speaking of newspapers, I’ve been keeping my eye on the changes within newspaper inserts and ads for a long time. Over the past 9 ½ years since the inception of SavingsAngel - and even before that - I’ve kept track of trends in couponing and sales.
In 2016, there have been a couple of notable changes from two large grocery chains, so we’ll talk about those.
After that, I want to wrap up our ongoing discussion about life insurance. We’ve covered a lot this month, but if you’ve missed any podcast episodes, you can listen to them at SavingsAngel.com, where I’ve discussed life insurance already. You will have an education in life insurance that will reward you for life.
As always, I’m keyed up to help you to save more, earn more, and live more abundantly - so let’s get to it!
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I mentioned a few moments ago that I’ve noticed changes in two large grocery chains - in particular Whole Foods and Walmart.
I’ve always advocated comparing ads and cherry-picking the absolute best deals, and it appears that method of saving is still going strong.
However, ad matching appears to be drying up. Yep. You heard me right - and went ahead of me in your mind, I’m sure. Walmart ad matching - at least for groceries - appears to be coming to an end.
Here’s what I know...
In a February 2016 survey, Market Force found that 79% of shoppers still plan their purchases based on the deals being offered, and 61% of shoppers compare prices between grocers.
So that would lead you to believe that grocers would up their sale ad game, right? But neither Whole Foods and Walmart are. In fact, neither store has ever been big in the sale ad war in the first place.
Whole Foods has traditionally released a very small sale ad each week. And Walmart has never really put out grocery sale ads at all. Rather, what Walmart releases is more of a flyer that features items at regular price, with a few "roll back" items tossed in here and there for good measure. So - let’s talk about some changes coming to the Whole Foods brand...
Whole Foods is rolling out a new store chain, called 365 by Whole Foods Market. This new store concept is designed with lower prices, and even offers coupons and loyalty rewards. The plan is to have a chain of stores that will compete for the business of comparison and coupon shoppers - while still maintaining the quality Whole Foods is known for.
They just opened the doors to their flagship store in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, CA and they have two others opening with a total of 12 locations announced so far. The concept isn't difficult to imagine. By simply not carrying as many high-priced and specialty items, and focusing more on Whole Foods' store brand products, they have the opportunity to attract more shoppers. And that may be all it takes. Because it's really the "high prices" perception they are trying to change, while riding the still rising demand for organic and local foods. As a consumer advocate who has watched those demands for years, I predict that the new chain could be quite successful. Especially since they are pairing lower prices with coupons and incentives. You can check out 365 by Whole Foods online at 365bywfm.com.
Now - let’s talk about some changes coming to Walmart...
For years, Walmart has simply relied on slick marketing to claim they "always have the lowest price" - and now they're attempting to reinforce that concept. Although it has only affected about 500 stores so far, they have announced they are eliminating price matching. And they're not announcing which stores. That's right. No more price matching at Walmart - but you won't know...
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