In an effort to dramatically simplify and improve the way it promotes and supports sale items, supercenter pioneer Meijer, Inc. has implemented a streamlined system for its sale items, featuring Everyday Best Price, Sale and Price Drop tiers.

The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer said the new pricing program spans every category throughout its stores and will greatly increase the number of reduced-price items, provide deeper discounts for sale items, and provide assurances to shoppers that they’re paying Meijer’s guaranteed lowest price for a particular product.

“The bottom line is that it will cost you less to shop at Meijer than it did before,” said J.K. Symancyk, Meijer’s EVP of merchandising. “This sale-pricing program will help further cement our standing as a low-price leader among national and regional grocers and retailers.

Meijer — which operates 190 supercenters throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky — is supporting its commitment to offering the best possible price on popular items, with the introduction of a new savings category entitled “Everyday Best Price.” Products that carry this newly created designation have been reduced in price dramatically, thereby guaranteeing Meijer’s lowest price for that particular item.

Forecasting that the introduction of the Everyday Best Price tier “will be a resounding success,” Symancyk said the newly created category “will not only provide savings to our customers, but also peace of mind for them, as they know that they are getting our lowest possible price.”

While Meijer’s tradition of offering discounted “Sale” items will continue, Symancyk said the retailer would now offer deeper-discounts on these sale items, more so than previous sales reductions. Items tagged with Sale signage will be reduced in price for a limited time period.

The retailer’s popular “Price Drop” category will remain in effect, but the company intends to greatly increase the number of food and general merchandise goods to be added to this category on an ongoing basis. The Price Drop category includes thousands of items that represent special buys or promotions from suppliers and are reduced in price for a longer duration than typical sale items.

“The current economic climate has created a generation of very strategic shoppers, [so] it’s incumbent on us to make it as easy as possible to shop our stores, and to communicate the fact that our customers are getting the lowest prices,” noted Symancyk.

As the inventor of the “one-stop shopping” concept, Meijer has evolved through the years to include expanded fresh produce and meat departments, as well as pharmacies, comprehensive electronics departments, garden centers and apparel offerings.