Engagement
Church’s Chicken Extends Customer Experience Management Program with SMG
Church’s Chicken and Service Management Group extended their partnership to allow Church’s to use real-time feedback data to find customer insights, improve the guest experience and drive loyalty.
“In our 11 years working with SMG, the team has helped us elevate the voice of our guest program, scale the platform to support our international growth and leverage feedback to drive guest loyalty,” says Brendan Berg, Church’s Chicken senior vice president of global operations services. “In addition to being a longtime trusted partner, SMG has a wealth of restaurant industry knowledge and a unique ability to surface insights our team can act on to continually improve the guest experience.”
Kroger Launches Contactless Payments Pilot in QFC Division
Kroger launched a contactless payment pilot across the QFC division that will let customers use their mobile devices for a more seamless checkout experience. This pilot includes options for Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay, mobile banking apps and contactless chip cards.
"QFC is excited to pilot contactless payments powered by NFC technology, providing our customers with an additional way to pay for their fresh food and household essentials," says Chris Albi, president of QFC. "The contactless payment solution will help make life easier for many of our customers and provide the freedom of choice among various options, including cash, debit, credit and check."
Innovation
DoorDash Introduces Convenience Stores in Major Cities
DoorDash introduced a new way for people to buy items from convenience stores in a program called DashMart. Customers can purchase thousands of convenience, grocery and restaurant items in eight cities: Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Redwood City, CA. The brand also plans to launch in San Diego, Baltimore, Denver and Sacramento in the coming months.
“Our mission is to connect customers to the best in their cities while helping any business on Main Street grow, and we hope to inspire even more local businesses — from restaurants and bakeries to artisanal shops and home goods retailers — to sell with us on DashMart,” says Andrew Ladd, director of new verticals at DoorDash. “Customers have long used DoorDash to discover new restaurants in their neighborhoods, and this latest launch continues our commitment to the growth and success of local businesses.”
News
Target Hits on Winning Formula Amid COVID Pandemic
The Wall Street Journal reports that Target will come out of the pandemic as a winner. Its digital sales rose and tallied more than five million customers at its website for the first time.
“It’s not about being better or worse in e-commerce than Amazon or Walmart,” says Edward Yruma, an analyst at KeyBanc. “It’s about capturing share from all these other retailers that can’t make those investments.”
In a Bleak Economy, These Companies are Flourishing
The pandemic has caused many brands to see declining sales; however, according to an article in The Washington Post, others are flourishing. Some of those include Proctor and Gamble due to its bevy of cleaning products and people scrubbing everywhere in their life, and Tractor Supply Co. because people need to do much of their work themselves.
“People have left the cities where we don’t have stores,” Harry Lawton, the company’s chief executive, told investors during a July 23 earnings call in The Washington Post. “They’re moving into suburbans [or] they’re moving out of the suburbs. So, they’re moving out to the rural communities.”