The Chicago Tribune: Grocery chain Jewel-Osco is testing a program that examines a customer's purchases and allows the store to offer significantly larger, targeted discounts on products they have purchased in the past. Jewel-Osco representatives are hoping the program will be a new weapon in its battle with discount giants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Inc. that have been luring away customers for decades with low prices.
Shoppers first encounter a kiosk at the entrance to the store. There, they can swipe their Jewel-Osco Preferred Card and receive a sheet of paper containing discount offers for a dozen items they have purchased or might be interested in. Discounts are automatically processed at the checkout when the Preferred Card is scanned.
The offers change each day. A $4 discount on a bottle of Marq wine might be replaced two days later with a $3.50 discount for another brand of wine.
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