Latest / Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360 / #533: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories | How Food Lion is Evolving Without Sacrificing Emotional Loyalty

Transcript

#533: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories | How Food Lion is Evolving Without Sacrificing Emotional Loyalty · Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Brand Stories Edition, and it's great having you with us every Thursday.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Grocery is one of the most competitive and emotionally connected industries in the world.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Cooking, baking, and feeding one's family provide powerful opportunities to build trust, engagement, and long-term customer loyalty.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Founded in 1957 in a small North Carolina town, Foodline has grown to more than 1,100 locations in 10 states by keeping customers at the center of its strategy.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yet in a market defined by rising expectations, value-driven customers, and intense competition from everyday low-price leaders, staying relevant is no small feat.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Despite those challenges, Foodline continues to stand out with its award-winning MVP loyalty program, creating stronger engagement and passionate customer advocates along the way.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to hear from Nicole Holstein.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: She's the Loyalty Campaign Development Manager at Foodline on how the brand continues to evolve its customer loyalty strategy and stay ahead in a rapidly changing industry.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Nicole.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much for taking the time to join us today.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Doing great, Mark.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: So good to see you also.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to see you.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's only been a couple of weeks, but uh time does fly.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: First off, uh, for those who may not be familiar, can you give us a brief introduction or overview of Foodline?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Happy to.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Foodline is an omnichannel grocery retailer with more than 1,100 grocery store locations.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we do operate over a 10-state footprint here on the east coast of the U.S.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: We are headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, which is just north of Charlotte.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have been serving our towns and cities since 1957.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, at our core, we're very focused on helping our customers to um nourish their families um through fresh quality products uh at a good value.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Whether they're shopping um in whatever manner that they're looking to shop, whether that's in store, online, um, with our Foodline app or through Foodline to go.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So when you look at uh Foodline, obviously very successful, 1100 locations, you know, what's been a key driver of that success?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think one of the things that helps us to be successful is really keeping our customer at core.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, grocery is uniquely personal.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's not just about what's on the shelf, it's really about helping our families put meals on the table each and every week.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so whenever you keep that focus on the customer, that is the start of any successful story.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's awesome.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think you guys do a great job of that.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, an award-winning brand, an award-win-winning customer loyalty program.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you guys do a great job, and it's always, you know, great catching up with you guys.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um, can you tell us a little bit more about your role within the company and maybe a little bit about how it may be changing?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, sure.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So uh currently lead the um loyalty team, and I'm currently the loyalty campaign development manager.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in this role around three years.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I bring our loyalty campaigns to life through making sure that they're like relevant and easy to understand for our customers to understand and ultimately deliver in a valuable experience for our customers.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Before moving into this role, I worked in category management primarily in produce.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: My last role was the fruit category manager for the organization.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that background really thinks about uh helped shape how I think about loyalty today by the experience in produce, uh, really helped me to understand the product side, uh, the customer side, and the importance of delivering both quality and value and really leaning into my merchant mindset uh to deliver those things.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: You talked a little bit about value, you mentioned value.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a big discussion right now within many industries, right?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh making sure you're providing value to the customers.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: How are you looking at value uh for the brand, for your customers?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: So grocery is a competitive and really fast evolving space.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so when I think about our customers, um, what they have shifting customer expectations also that correlate.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: So our customer expectations have shifted quite a bit, especially how people are planning and shopping for groceries.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen our customers moving away from a single big mass trip into shopping multiple times a week across multiple channels.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was not that far or long ago where that singular weekly trip was the standard.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're seeing customers really evolve.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: There's still a larger stock-up trip that's a part of their shop.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: And also they're multiple um fill-in trips, if you will.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes that's as easy as we ran out of milk.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Other times it's ah, I'm missing an ingredient or two uh for the meal I'm making tonight.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And while I'm there, I need to get something for dinner tomorrow.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's really changed over the last several years.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, a customer can shop a quick trip.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um they'll sometimes they're placing a food line to go order uh for later in the week.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And they're also like in between those times, checking the food line app to look for coupons and savings, what's our um next ad flyer, what's what's going to be breaking for savings opportunities ultimately for that following and subsequent trips.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very, very unique.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're responding uh to making that experience just more connected so our customers can access savings in store, online, um, and through the app itself.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: MVP is the Foodline uh loyalty program award-winning, as you mentioned.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how long has the program been in place?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, you know, how do you keep it fresh and relevant and uh so engaging?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Foodlines Loyalty Program is our MVP program.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's the foundation, really, of how customers save with us.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um currently, our customers can enroll online through the Foodline app or even in-store at the in-store savings center kiosk.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: We turned on that capability a few years back.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Once our customers use their MVP card or their linked phone number, Alt ID, at checkout, those savings are automatically applied through coupons andor shop and earn rewards.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Customers that have a digital MVP account have the opportunity to participate in Shop and Earn, which is our monthly loyalty rewards program.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this program gives customers personalized rewards based on items or categories that they are shopping.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, shop shop and earn is uh a very important pillar of our loyalty program, and that's been an evolution for us.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's very simple, easy to use.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um customers simply activate the offers, uh, shop as they normally do, uh, and then they can track progress and/or those autumn earned rewards are will automatically be applied at checkout when they're using their alt ID or MVP card at checkout.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at the program, uh you know what are two or three things that you're most proud of about the program?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for asking.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: So the our MVP program actually started in 1995.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: So long, long tenured history, more than three decades of tenure uh with our MVP program.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's always the MVP card itself has always been an important part of our program, but in the digital age, it's even more so.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it uh what initially started as a simply a card-based program to allow transactional discounts has evolved over time, and we now have the ability for customers to engage with us digitally and provide a digital engaged customer experience.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, ShopInEarn was introduced to our loyalty program in 2018.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that has really helped take our loyalty program to the next level.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: It gives our customers personalized monthly reward opportunities on items and categories that they're already shopping.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's been something that I'm very proud of.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I know you have a number of great partnerships within your program, right?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: You have the Guiding Stars program that focuses on health and wellness.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: You have just a great uh reverence and respect for the customer.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how are partnerships uh impactful or important to the Foodline, you know, MVP program?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's Foodline Feeds for Us, Mark.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: So um a very important part of our organization are the towns and cities in which we serve.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it is our hunger relief platform, uh, but it's even more than that.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: So since 2014, we've helped to provide more than 1.7 billion meals uh in those communities that we're serving.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're on track to working towards a goal of providing three billion meals uh by 2032.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Nicole, you recently attended the 2026 Loyalty Expo.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, were there one or two trends discussed at the conference that you believed could be especially impactful for Foodline?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, trends uh for me that I experienced at the Loyalty Expo really hurt a lot around AI and emotional loyalty.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what I was very happy to hear um were how very connected most of the organizations um were about AI and it becoming um uh uh a continued emerging trend, one that's has emerged and will be with us for a bit of a time, um, and but not without sacrificing emotional loyalty.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: So in other words, yes, AI is a part of our world and what helps us deliver programs that we're delivering, uh, but we cannot sacrifice the emotional loyalty component of the experience.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Emotional loyalty, uh very important topic.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've talked about it a great deal in some of the member-only meetings we have.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what does emotional loyalty mean to Foodline?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Great question.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: And grocery uh emotional loyalty is built through consistency.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, customers are trusting us with something that is uniquely very personal, you know, how they're nourishing their families.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's precious.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: So for us, emotional loyalty really starts with delivering fresh products, um, good value, easy savings, and a dependable shopping experience.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that is very uh important to us here at Food Lion.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: When uh look at emotional loyalty, you know, I measure the emotional loyalty through things like engagement retention and then category growth.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, engagement I mean it just shows that customers are moving beyond that initial transaction.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, that is very, very important uh for us.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um the retention, you know, really just shows that our customers are making Food Lion a more integral part of their routine.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then you know, category growth that just demonstrates a deeper level of trust that our customers are are sharing with us, and it's very, very precious.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at the kind of the overall success of the program, are there certain things that you look at?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about emotional loyalty and some of the kind of the key metrics you have there around engagement.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, when you look at the overall program, how do you measure success of the MVP program?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so the success of the MVP program really comes into uh some of those very same metrics, uh engagement, retention, um, and and growth.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um any loyalty program has to continue to grow.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we need to grow within not just total numbers, but also engaged customer numbers.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we separate an engaged activator, if you will, and an engaged customer.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And we differentiate that by saying that you know an engaged customer has to be one that not only activated their shop and earn rewards, for example, but they're also actively tracking, looking at the app, making shopping trips towards earning those rewards and or redeeming those reward dollars, earning and redeeming those reward dollars.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we want that intentionality from customers.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: You touched a little bit about AI, it's a topic you heard a great deal about at the conference.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, many brands are looking at AI.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how are you uh looking at AI Foodline?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is it something you have kind of defined approach on?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're in early stages.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you see Foodline in your AI journey?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Foodline, like many other retailers, uh, we're paying very close attention to AI and those emerging technologies.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, our approach is a little different than others.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for Foodline, we're customer first.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to just use technology to say that we're using it.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we're asking, we're always asking, you know, how does this help make the customer experience easier, faster, more relevant, uh, more valuable?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, that's what we're looking to do is create more value for our customers.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: The Foodline app doesn't currently involve or include any AI-driven components, uh, customer-facing features, but we're advancing technology more behind the scenes.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: One example of that I can share is um with Foodline2go, where our geolocation capabilities help us to better understand where that customer is when they're on their way for pickup, uh, helping our teams to get the groceries ready and reduce wait times and ultimately create a smoother and more beneficial experience for our customer.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um when you look at um Foodline, you talked about some of the things from a technology perspective, you're looking at, you know, what is the next big opportunity or even evolution in customer loyalty and customer experience for Foodline?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: So for Foodline, um, I'd say the next big thing uh that we're working on is continuing to strengthen our loyalty platform so that rewards feel you know even more personalized, timely, more relevant, and connected to how our customers are shopping.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, customers increasingly are expecting Food Lion and all brands, quite frankly, to understand better what they need and in the moment.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this means that loyalty just cannot be static.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: It has to be responsive.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: You have to go where the customer is going.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so we at Foodline we want customers to access meaningful savings in real time, you know, whether they're shopping again, in store, online, uh, through the Foodline app or with Foodline2go.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at the kind of the program itself, you know, how can Loyalty 360 help you and your team and your customer loyalty efforts?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks, Mark.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you and the team do such a you do a lot for the industry.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, first let me say thank you for that.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the things that you can do to help continue to create value and help us is continue to carry carry and create spaces uh where brands can really lean in and learn from one another.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in the forums, uh, we find that brands are sharing ideas, uh, exploring trends, uh, really speaking honestly, um, we're on what's working and you know, maybe what's not, and just helps to then generate other ideas that we are learning from.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and maybe it's right for our program, maybe it's not, but maybe even if it's not, there's a subset of a learning uh that we can take from that.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the best ideas come from hearing how a brand in a completely different industry is solving a similar challenge.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and just for me and for us at Foodline, it's uh those conversations really help us to think about how to make loyalty a more relevant, uh, useful, easier experience for customers.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Nicole, thank you again for taking the time to speak with us today.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was great uh getting an update uh on how Foodline continues to evolve its customer loyalty strategy in such a competitive industry.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: You guys seem to be setting the bar again and again, and it's always great to catch up with the team.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Mark.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: I also wanted to thank everyone for tuning in to this episode of the Leaders in Customer Loyalty series, the brand stories podcast.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to check back every Thursday for new interviews with the brands that are shaping the future of customer loyalty.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, and other social media channels.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And again, we'll see you next Thursday.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have a wonderful day.