Subscribe… to his supermarket | Press

The subscription is a concept that could give lessons in adaptation, as it crosses the ages and fashions. We went smoothly from Club Columbia, with its cassettes and mailing forms, to streaming music services. Organic farmers have embraced the idea, as have Couche-Tard (car wash) and Nintendo (video games). Now the big supermarket chains are interested.

Still fairly new in Quebec, the phenomenon is more developed in France. The large chains Carrefour, Casino and Monoprix all offer formulas to their customers, generally for a handful of euros per month.

At the beginning of December, however, Carrefour launched a new free subscription that automatically allows you to receive your favorite products at the desired frequency (every two, four or six weeks). Shipping is free for orders over 50 euros ($ 72). It’s even simpler than Amazon’s Dash Buttons, which died in 2019, were. You then had to press your finger on these small devices to order detergent or paper towels without any further steps.

But the most interesting thing about Carrefour is that a 5% discount is offered on any purchase. And that the prices of the chosen products will remain fixed for the duration of the subscription. In the midst of food inflation, this is a pretty convincing argument.

For the moment, 400 products are available (laundry soap, diapers, dog food, coffee), but the offer will soon be expanded.

The idea is to make life easier for customers in urban areas where home delivery is a “real plus”, argues the company. Hence the presence of many heavy products in the list of choices, one can imagine.

For non-perishable products, which there is therefore no risk of wasting, the formula is attractive. Customers are certainly depriving themselves of the discounts offered by the competitor, but the 5% compensates in part, and this avoids time-consuming trips.

Its main competitors offer other subscription formulas, but which are more like the principle of a card giving the right to discounts. Since 2019, Casino chain customers get 10% off any purchase, at a monthly cost of 10 euros per month ($ 14.50). The Monoprix brand then offered its version called Monopflix, in reference to the famous streaming video service.

Carrefour, since September, is testing another recipe: the subscription to 6 euros ($ 8.70) per month gives a 15% discount, but only on the 7,000 private label products. It looks a lot like what Loblaws (Maxi, Provigo, Pharmaprix and Joe Fresh clothing) has been offering for three years now.

Its PC Adepts program, at $ 119 per year ($ 136.82, taxes included), provides 10% back in PC Optimum points on its 12,000 foods and other PC brand products (President’s Choice, Black Collection, Menu Blue, etc.).

This price does not give right to delivery, because the group’s supermarkets do not offer this service. However, subscribers are entitled to free in-store pickup of their online purchases. Otherwise, the bill is $ 3 or $ 5. By using it once a week, it takes a minimum of $ 156, which is higher than the price of the annual subscription.

If you’d rather go to the supermarket, you’ll need to put an average of $ 27 worth of PC products in your weekly cart to end up with a free membership. Some consumers will no doubt see a good benefit in getting 10% at Joe Fresh all the time. In addition, delivery is offered without a minimum purchase on the Pharmaprix and Joe Fresh sites.

Before paying for such a subscription, it goes without saying that a little reflection on your consumption habits and some calculations are necessary.

For now, at least, Metro and IGA offer nothing comparable. But if we trust what we see overseas, where the formulas are multiplying, that could change. Because we are in the era of “servicization”, summarizes Laure Saulais, associate professor in the department of agrifood economics and consumer sciences at Laval University.

Since it is difficult for companies to differentiate themselves from competitors with their products, they rely on the services that surround them. In food, the idea is catching on: bakeries have joined in. This is the case with Miette, in Montreal, where we offer systematic delivery of one or more breads per week. A bit like milkmaids.

The subscription is above all a strategy of customer loyalty. When you pay monthly fees, you want to make them profitable.

This works great for Amazon, whose Prime program in the US includes free two-hour delivery of fresh food sold on its site and that of its Whole Foods Market supermarket chain (in some cities). So since our big grocers sell online, it is only natural that they are inspired by it.

This is all the more relevant as online shopping grows in popularity. The proportion of food purchased online rose from 1.5% to 4.5% at the height of the pandemic, according to the BMO. Even if a certain decline has been observed, the next few years will undoubtedly be synonymous with growth.

In fact, with the fifth wave hitting us, let’s bet that the rebound is already underway.