Grocery retail has more types and flavours of special offers than any other retail vertical. It’s part of what makes grocery unique. Whether ‘mix n’ match’ or ‘spend & get’ deals, your shoppers have come to love the many different ways they can save when they visit your stores.

However, as more shoppers start to dabble with online grocery shopping, they will come to expect access to the same breadth of deals in the digital experience.

Herein lies the challenge (and opportunity!). Most in-store offers are complicated: they usually involve multiple SKUs and/or multiple steps required to earn the deal.

We like to call these “Complex Offers”, and you’ll recognize these offers in any of the below scenarios:

  • Spend more than $25 and get $5 off  
  • Buy any 2 from these products and get the 3rd free
  • Buy any of these 5 for a set amount of dollars
  • And lots more!

Unfortunately, the many steps your shoppers need to take, and several dependencies and complicated discount rules involved in these offers tend to make them a challenge to support online.

Which is why most supermarkets don’t properly support them in their eCommerce portal, yielding the following shortcomings:

  1. Only an image is used to represent these types of deals
  2. There is no way to see all SKUs eligible for the complex offer; instead, the image usually says “select varieties”
  3. The discount from a complex offer is not incorporated into the estimated total once the required steps have been completed to earn the discount

This is a massive missed opportunity!

Complex offers are by far the most exciting deals for your shoppers, and they drive the most savings as well. Therefore, not including them in the digital shopping experience is a big missed opportunity for shopper spend and engagement.

How can you support Complex Offers online?

Here is how you can make sure your most exciting deals get visibility and traction online:

  • Firstly, show all specific SKUs that are eligible for a complex offer through an offer details page, rather than a photo that showcases “select varieties”. This will allow the shopper to also add the SKUs that they are interested in to their cart
  • As the shopper is “building” the deal, track and showcase the shopper’s progress, telling them what steps are left to complete the deal
  • Once the offer conditions have been met, reflect the discount in the estimated total

Why should you start doing this today?

The sooner you start supporting complex offers in your eCommerce or eCircular experiences, the sooner you can:

Offer a better shopping experience

Your shoppers will now be able take advantage of the most exciting offers they would normally find in store, online, and you’ll ensure greater consistency between your digital and brick and mortar experiences.

Experience an increase in shopper spend

If your shopper is managing to a budget, you can unlock more of their budget by reflecting the true lower total in their cart as they add and redeem offers.

Keep your shoppers faithful

As your shoppers take advantage of more deals and offers, they’ll not only see their savings in real time, but will realize those savings over time, which will create an affinity for shopping with you.


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