AppCard, Ideal Launch Highly Personalized Digital Coupons

100+ retailers already enhancing shopper experience and engagement with integrated solution

2/28/2023

With Ideal’s digital circular and omnichannel distribution system, grocers can engage target audiences within the retailers’ geographic range.

AppCard, a data-driven personalization engine and digital coupons platform provider for independent grocers, has teamed with Ideal by Design House on an integration enabling shoppers to clip coupons while browsing a grocer’s digital circular powered by Ideal without opening a separate app or webpage. Additionally, shoppers can enroll in the grocer’s AppCard-powered rewards and loyalty program directly from Ideal’s marketing platform.

“Our new partnership helps independent grocers stay ahead of the competition with Ideal’s dynamic, digital circular and our intelligent customer loyalty program,” said Yair Goldfinger, co-founder and CEO of New York-based AppCard. “Already, more than 100 retailers are curating a more intuitive shopper experience by giving shoppers the ability to see coupons and clip them all in the same place. The AppCard-powered coupons are built on a proprietary AI and machine-learning algorithm. We integrate shoppers’ purchase history, loyalty data and unique buying cycles to deliver the right message, to the right customer, at the right time.”

[Read more: "The Next Evolution of E-Commerce"]

With Ideal’s digital circular and omnichannel distribution system, grocers can engage target audiences within the retailers’ geographic range. The marketing platform highlights videos, recipes, shopping lists, translations, sharing capabilities, behind-the-scenes storytelling, and more. These hyperlocal, dynamic media enable shoppers to better connect and take advantage of promotions, thereby enhancing the customer experience.

“Through our technology integration with AppCard, grocers serve up ‘just for me’ highly personalized deals and coupons within the Ideal digital circular,” noted Adam Zimmerman, co-founder of Solon, Ohio-based Ideal by Design House. “These customized recommendations allow retailers to communicate with shoppers on a one-to-one basis, increasing customer satisfaction and earning true loyalty. Grocers benefit from preventing churn, bringing back customers and creating time-restricted offers that speed up slow days and hours.”

“This new solution from AppCard and Ideal puts our independent retailers at a level playing field with big-box stores,” asserted Nick Carlino, EVP of sales and merchandising at Merchants Distributors LLC (MDI), a wholesale food distributor for independent grocers, which has already partnered with Ideal on providing MDI's retail customers access to digital circulars. “We’re offering relevant coupons and incentives that encourage a specific behavior and make our customers feel valued. Best of all, the advanced analytics allow us to measure store traffic driven from the circular and computes cost per visit to accurately demonstrate the return on investment on each store’s marketing programs.”

AppCard also recently collaborated with white-label e-commerce platform eGrowcery to help current and potential retail shoppers retain and reward shoppers through an enhanced digital experience.

Hickory, N.C.-based MDI provides expertise, infrastructure and scale for independent grocers. With an assortment of more than 40,000 food and nonfood items, the wholesaler supplies hundreds of grocery stores in the United States and exports a variety of products to retailers and distributors in 36 countries. MDI is a subsidiary of Alex Lee Inc., which is also the parent company of Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Lowes Foods, operating more than 75 Lowes and Just $ave stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Alex Lee is No. 65 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.