Giant Eagle Inc. on Thursday introduced a pilot program in central Ohio that is a sharp twist to its well-known gasoline discount program -- it now offers grocery discounts for buying gasoline at GetGo locations.
The test of the new "foodperks!" program allows a Giant Eagle customer to earn a 1 percent discount on groceries bought at any Giant Eagle for every 10 gallons of GetGo gasoline purchased.
Like its existing fuelperks! program, the grocery discount rewards are cumulative and automatically are tracked via Giant Eagle's Advantage Card.
"The Columbus area is a good test market because it's self-contained and its demographics are diverse," said Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts.
The company has 22 Giant Eagle and 12 GetGo locations in the Columbus area.
Although no timetable is in place, Roberts said there's "no doubt" that if the Columbus-area test is successful, foodperks! eventually would migrate east to Western Pennsylvania.
"They want to see how people latch on to this, which I don't think will take very long," Roberts said.
The foodperks! program allows a maximum grocery discount of 20 percent on each total purchase. For example, it allows a $60 discount, or 20 percent, on a single trip's $300 purchase. Discounts earned but not used can be saved for a later Giant Eagle trip.
The redemption of foodperks! doesn't cancel fuelperks! earnings, the company said. Customers earn fuelperks! based on the amount they are charged after foodperks! savings are taken off the total bill.
For example, if a purchaser's $100 total bill is reduced to $85 after redeeming foodperks!, then fuelperks! discounts are based on the $85 paid.
"The beauty of the two programs is that customers can earn rewards on one while redeeming rewards on the other. For instance, I earn foodperks! at the GetGo fuel pump, even if I am redeeming a free tank's-worth of fuelperks! rewards," said Giant Eagle's Dan Donovan.
Fuelperks! was introduced by Giant Eagle in 2004. The program gives consumers a 10-cent-per-gallon discount off gasoline at the company's GetGo stations for every $50 spent at Giant Eagle grocery and convenience stores.
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