SavingStar Reaches a Million Users in 230 Days
Digital grocery solutions provider SavingStar said it has acquired over one million users since its launch in April 2011. The Walthan, Mass.-based company provides exclusive deals on name brand grocery products linked electronically to shoppers’ loyalty cards from over 100 grocery and drug store chains, eliminating the need for printing paper coupons.
“In the same way that Groupon created a nationwide platform for consumers to save a significant amount of money with deals from local businesses, SavingStar is creating a platform for them to save at their local grocery store,” said David Rochon, CEO of SavingStar. “While most people don’t buy deals on tanning salons or teeth whitening every week, everyone buys groceries. Our paperless service makes it easy to save money regularly.”
SavingStar enables brands to promote their products to SavingStar’s audience of grocery shoppers for free – charging only when a product is actually bought. SavingStar receives UPC level data from retailers in its network, enabling it to match offers activated by consumers with in-store purchases linked to shoppers’ loyalty cards helping brands close the loop on a promotion’s effectiveness in generating sales. The vendor said it has 24,000 participating stores in all 50 states, including Albertsons, Food Lion, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, and Winn-Dixie.
SavingStar is free to use. Shoppers register their grocery and drug store loyalty cards on SavingStar.com or on the company’s iPhone or Android apps and select offers for products that interest them. SavingStar links the offers to all of their registered cards. When shoppers purchase the items and use their loyalty cards at the store, the value of each offer is automatically deposited as savings into their SavingStar accounts, rather than being given at checkout like a typical coupon. Once users accumulate $5 worth of savings in their SavingStar accounts, they can cash out with a direct deposit into their bank or PayPal account, an Amazon gift card, or a donation to the charity American Forests. More than 11 million grocery offers have been activated by SavingStar users since its launch.
Since its launch, SavingStar has featured offers from over 100 brands such as Tropicana, Huggies, Kellogg’s, Campbell’s, Stonyfield Farm, Kashi, Smart Balance, Welch’s, and M&M’s.