There are no baggers at ALDI to pack up your purchases, and no parking lot attendants to round up shopping carts that you need to return yourself. Now, there’s one more job function the no-frills discount grocer may do away with – the cashier. An ALDI store in suburban Chicago has become the first to test out a checkout-free shopping system, where you can shop and then walk out with your purchases without stopping at a traditional checkout stand. Particularly noteworthy is that it’s the first time the technology has been deployed in an existing, full-sized grocery store and not one specifical ..read more

There’s been a lot of talk recently about whether digital coupons are discriminatory, and whether there should be paper versions available for those who are not digitally-engaged. As much as some shoppers might prefer paper coupons, though, there are some who definitely do not – give them some printed coupons, and they’re likely to junk them without even looking at them. That’s one of the findings in a new survey by the market research company CivicScience. When asked what they usually do with paper coupons delivered to their home, more than half of shoppers said they occasionally or frequent ..read more

We all know grocery prices are a lot higher than they used to be. But we don’t necessarily agree on who’s to blame. Is the manufacturers who kept raising prices long after the Covid pandemic eased? Or is it the retailers that raised their own prices in order to rake in record profits of their own? A new survey finds most shoppers blame someone else – the government. The Feedback Group surveyed grocery shoppers across the country to find out how they’re coping with inflation, and why they think it’s such a lingering problem. When asked who they think is responsible for higher grocery prices, s ..read more

Well, that was fast. Just two weeks after the last time there were no coupons in your Sunday newspaper, it’s happening again. As expected, the publishers of the SmartSource and Save inserts took Easter weekend off a couple of weeks ago. They both returned last weekend. And now they’re pausing publication yet again. If you’re keeping count, this now marks the fifth weekend out of 15 so far this year, when there have been no coupon inserts at all, which makes for a 66% success rate when it comes to paging through your Sunday paper looking for savings. While you wait for the coupons to return ..read more

It’s happened to everyone before – your coupon won’t scan correctly, your digital coupon wasn’t applied, the coupon you thought was valid was handed back to you by the cashier. And with no real recourse, you ended up paying more at the register than you thought you would. Some stores are just “coupon friendlier” than others. And some – which couponers in a new survey are happy to mention by name – are not. Market Force Information has released the latest in its mostly-annual series of Grocery Panel Studies, in which it surveys grocery shoppers about their experiences with and opinions about t ..read more

Previous studies – and perhaps your own experience – tell us that coupons can make you feel good. But a new survey finds that if you feel good about a brand, then you don’t really need coupons to make you happy. That insight comes courtesy of the marketing consultancy firm IMI’s “Fueling Brand Growth: The Performance of Feeling Good” survey. It found that what shoppers value most when choosing a brand to buy, is trust. Close behind, though, is a brand that makes them feel good – which beats out coupons or discounts. 77% of shoppers surveyed said they purchase a brand based on trust. 70% said ..read more

Being loyal to your favorite store has its perks – but sometimes, you need to pay for those perks. Target this week became the latest retailer to introduce a paid membership tier to its Target Circle program, with extra benefits for members. Walmart, Kroger and CVS are among major retailers that have done the same in recent years. And now ALDI wants in. “Do you love grocery stores? Do you love memberships?” it asked its social media followers this week. “Then you’re gonna love this brand new grocery store membership. Introducing ALDI+. For the modest price of $0 per year.” So, April Fool’s! A ..read more

It’s been generations since five-and-dime stores died out, and decades since dollar stores took their place. Now, it appears dollar stores’ days are coming to an end as well. The last major dollar store chain still actually selling a majority of items for a dollar says it won’t be doing so for much longer. It’s not raising prices, though – instead, it’s going out of business altogether. The owner of the California-based 99 Cents Only Stores announced Friday that, effective immediately, it has begun “an orderly wind-down of its business operations,” permanently closing all 371 of its stores in ..read more

You should find two coupon inserts in your Sunday newspaper this weekend, one each from SmartSource and Save. Here’s a preview of the coupons to look out for. In the meantime, you can search our coupon database for additional coupons. And be sure to look at the latest cash-back offers from Ibotta, Checkout 51 or Makeena for additional savings, or check out Merryfield or Fetch to see how you can turn your receipts into gift cards! And now, as provided by Sunday-Coupons.net, here are the coupons to watch for this weekend: SmartSource coupon insert – April 7, 2024 Allegra Product (exc. 5ct &am ..read more

You can shop online, or you can shop in a store. Or buy online and pick up in the store, or browse in a store and buy online. There are any number of ways to combine the physical with the digital these days, but one thing shoppers say ought to be the case everywhere – there had better be coupons. Visa Acceptance Solutions’ 2024 Global Digital Shopping Index, as compiled by PYMNTS Intelligence, found that lines are blurring between in-store and online shopping. But shoppers would like them to blur even further, if that means getting the same features and discounts however they choose to shop ..read more