226 items

2 full carts

51 full shopping bags

11 items free

120 coupons, 42 doubled

$10 in “cash certificates”, $8 bonus bucks

$39.16 saved in “Manager’s Specials”

$832.93 spent in a five hour marathon session, $385.14 saved

46.2% savings, 48.4% if you include the additional $18 in free money.

Yes.  It’s a sickness, a game, a personality quirk that allows you to peer deeply into my soul where a 50 cent coupon for Kraft sliced cheese (soon to be doubled) stares back at you.

And I love it. Yes,  I’m a loyal Kroger shopper, and with a new stack of coupons (paper and web-based), and a new round of price cuts, I’m about to make another trip to the “Chippery Store”, the only Kroger in the country with an in-store potato chip factory.  Can you feel the excitement…?

As you may have read in an earlier blog,  I encouraged my 16 year old son to get a job at this same Kroger store.  Since I enjoy my shopping experience (even after 5 hours) and am treated well by their associates (even the unlucky check-out staff that has to deal with my 100+ coupons and overflowing carts), it made sense that my son Max (who they call “Evan” since that is actually his real first name) would like it there too.

And he does.

And obviously Kroger likes the work he does as well.

Yesterday, Max came home with a letter (hand-signed… I checked) from the president of the Kroger Central Marketing Area awarding him a $5 Kroger Gift Card for providing great customer service.  Bob’s letter starts out by saying “Customers who take time to write and call really are special.  More important is the fact that you are special and did something good for our customer”.

Talk about a “grabber” of an opening line.

Linking employee behaviors and customer satisfaction, reinforcing that customers buy products from companies but form relationships with people.  Customer first.

A “sense of appreciation” is a key driver of workforce engagement.  In other words (non-human resource speak) a simple “thank you” can motivate employees to stay longer, work harder on behalf of customers, and recommend the company as a great place to work (and buy from).  It wasn’t the five bucks, it was the fact that somebody at the store level noticed his hard work and wanted to say thanks.  Better yet for Kroger, Max used his gift card to buy a Kroger birthday cake for his brother (who turned 22 yesterday) from their bakery, a chocolate cake with traditional butter creme.  MMMMMM cake.

In retail, employees want to work in a company where excellent performance gets rewarded.  Based on the 2008-09 Employee Hold’em National Workforce Engagement Assessment benchmark, the vast majority of organizations in this industry have a long way to go.  Consider:

• 39 percent of retail trade employees agreed that people are fairly rewarded and recognized for their contributions to the company’s success while 38 percent disagreed.
• 39 percent agreed excellent performance gets rewarded at this organization, while 34 percent disagreed.
• 35 percent agreed their manager ensures that the best receive the greatest rewards and recognition while 34 percent disagreed.

While some grocery chains are retreating, Kroger continues to grow.

As a satisfied customer with a loyal Kroger employee living in my house, it’s easy to see why.

Retail marketing… at its best.

Congrats Max!  You’ll see me Saturday shopping at your store…