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Grocer’s Amazing Price Survey Board For Shoppers-  Their Customers Submit the Price Checks

The first thing you see is a huge billboard as you enter each store.

Most independent food retailers do not leverage Price as a key differentiator with their competitors.  By maintaining “competitive” pricing, most independents focus their differentiation program on Product, Selection, Store Facility and the store shopping experience — not Price.   This is smart business.

Nugget Market is a group of nine independently owned stores located in northern California around Sacramento.  They started in business in 1926 when William and Mack Stille co-founded Nugget markets declaring the “Nugget Markets has the lowest prices of any conventional store in town.

I’ve been through their stores several times and they are incredible operators.  Their “curb appeal” on a quick drive-by would indicate that their stores are really too nice to be low priced.

You walk through their stores and you still can’t believe they are low priced.  Then you see the huge billboard area in their stores that show price comparisons with their major competitors (conventional stores).  Nugget is clearly the low price leader.

But how believable is this?  How can their prices be that low?  Are they adjusting their sales prices vs. their competitors every day prices?

No.  In fact they aren’t taking the price surveys of their competitors – their customers are taking the price surveys.  It’s much more believable when you know that the actual price surveys are directly from customers.

Nugget does periodic drawing to award $1000 among those customers who submit price comparisons – a real incentive to get your customers involved.  They have 9 stores so it’s roughly a little over $100 per store.

I’m not suggesting you adapt this idea to work in your store but if you know that your pricing is competitive you should try it on for size.

You accomplish three things:

1. You establish ongoing price credibility with your customers and not just price conscious customers – all your customers.
2.  You know if your pricing has slipped by looking at the comparisons, which gives you an opportunity to adjust pricing if necessary.
3.  Your customers select the items that they normally buy so your methodology of selecting just Own Brands, Sale Items or unique items is out of the equation.

Click here for instructions Click here for copy of price check form

Below is an excerpt from their website explaining how their program works.