How to Work With Albertsons Safeway

Schaumburg, Ill. — Karen Sales, Albertsons and Safeway Family of Stores vice president of shopper marketing, called for collaboration and innovation via shopper marketing programs when she addressed the newly combined company’s plans and expectations for brands during a general session presentation in March at the Shopper Marketing Summit.

Sales explained that there are two ways to commence shopper marketing programs at Albertsons Safeway, the result of a merger that was completed on Jan. 30, 2015. One would be a division start, and the other a national start. “You go directly to the national marketing directors or the division sales managers for division-specific programs or to amplify savings offers,” she said.

“You start with the national shopper team in Boise (Idaho) for multi-division or national program opportunity for partnership.” The national team would be highly involved in the process across the company’s divisions, she said. “We will help coordinate with merchandising and marketing commitments at the 14 divisions. We will also work with the other divisions to bring unique twists to the national program to make sure each division solution is localized and as relevant as possible.”

“We want to work with you so your initiatives and your investment are reflected in our marketing approach.”

Sales further explained that brands would still need to sell each division individually against all merchandising efforts, but that the national headquarters would help aid the process by:

• negotiating scale marketing buys,
• clearing brand and category approvals with merchandising,
• coordinating a national plan, and
• project managing all of the omnichannel touchpoints.

“Our divisions are fully empowered and accountable in the market,” Sales said. “The national team serves and enables the division teams to help them compete and to provide strategic guidance to leverage scale and drive efficiency.”

She encouraged brands to reach out with insights, innovations and overall interest in partnership programs. “We are also open to going off turf to meet with your corporate marketing teams to brainstorm and plan for the future together,” she added. “We are very eager to collaborate with you.”

The company’s overall goal is sales growth, according to Sales. “With our new, combined scale, just one extra item in the basket equates to more than $100 million more in sales. We want to work with you so your initiatives and your investment are reflected in our marketing approach.”

Platforms that teams can partner on with the company include growing Safeway.com e-commerce solutions. “We support MyMixx and Just for U [digital coupon] platforms offering personalized, relevant digital coupon offers,” Sales said. “It’s definitely going to be more complicated than it has in the past, but we think it’s worth it.”

Three key priorities were outlined for Albertsons Safeway:

• combining operations to build a national chain of local market leaders;
• differentiated value proposition for customers; and
• driving profitable growth through innovation and expansion.

Sales detailed the national events that will be held across both companies next year. These will include Albertsons’ “Monopoly” and “Best Road Trip Ever” efforts and Safeway’s “Savor the Summer.”

The current profile of the typical Albertsons Safeway customer is a high-income, older adult, Sales said. Quality, fresh and specialty selections are important to these customers along with a good store experience. Sales explained that while the company doesn’t plan to abandon this core customer, it now sees an opportunity to work toward targeting growing segments. “We are building shopper-targeted activation around reaching our best opportunity for the future,” she said. “This group is highly grocery involved and skews heavily toward Millennials and Hispanics. We want to provide relevant and engaging solutions for these shoppers.”

The company will still plan and execute campaigns that are unique to a banner because they want to “stay true” to their brands, Sales said. “As you can see, we are in constant contact with our shopper base. These programs are effective and impactful.”

Now the second largest supermarket operator in the United States, the Albertsons and Safeway Family of Stores maintains 2,230 stores spread across 34 states and the District of Columbia. The chain has been divided into 14 divisions with more than 250,000 employees.

Sales explained that Albertsons Safeway sends out 67 million emails and has 6.8 million unique website visitors and 3.9 mobile visitors monthly. The new company’s stores net more than $57 billion in sales yearly, with more than 30 million consumer transactions per week.