Strack & Van Til Customizes Circulars for Each Individual Customer

Independent grocer enhances digital ad platform with Birdzi and Ideal by Design House

9/15/2023

Birdzi's loyalty program employs point-of-sale data to allow Strack & Van Til to create a shopping experience tailored to each customer, while Ideal uses a patented process to efficiently deliver targeted content that’s easy to support.

Strack & Van Til’s 22 stores in northwest Indiana and Chicago will now feature dynamic digital circulars personalized to each customer’s purchase behavior. The marketing solution was developed by Ideal by Design House in collaboration with Birdzi, a provider of one-to-one personalization, advanced analytics and loyalty for Strack & Van Til and other grocery retailers.

“Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, which is the reason we’ve partnered with Ideal and Birdzi to make our circulars personalized and mobile friendly in providing customer-specific advertising,” noted Michael Tyson, chief marketing and merchandising officer at Highland, Ind.-based Strack & Van Til. “By integrating Birdzi’s rewards and loyalty program, shoppers get customized ‘for you pages,’ personalized digital coupons and member exclusives. Ideal makes it easier for customers to shop and save in-store, order online, and pick up at curbside or get groceries delivered.”

Ideal’s digital platform offers meaningful educational content such as recipes, video how-tos, brand stories, QR codes with information about ingredients, and shopping lists. The loyalty program from Iselin, N.J.-based Birdzi employs point-of-sale data to allow Strack & Van Til to create a shopping experience tailored to each customer, while Ideal uses a patented process to efficiently deliver targeted content that’s easy to support.

“Strack & Van Til is consistently voted best in the region by loyal customers because they’re committed to delivering value every day on the finest- quality groceries,” said Adam Zimmerman, co-founder of Cleveland, Ohio-based Ideal. “By integrating Birdzi loyalty and Ideal digital services, they have the ability to deliver ‘one-to-one’ circulars and promotional messages to their customers. This combined platform provides Strack & Van Til advanced analytics to measure store traffic driven from their loyalty program and circular distribution not available in any other application.”

Ideal has also provided digital circulars for Anaheim, Calif.-based Northgate González Market and, also in partnership with Birdzi, St. Cloud, Minn.-based Coborn’s, among others, and earlier this year launched the first retail media network designed for independent grocers, with Chicago-based IGA. Also in 2023, Strack & Van Til teamed up with Birdzi on enhanced digital coupon redemption and rewards capabilities powered by real-time transaction data.

Coborn’s Inc. is a 101-year-old employee-owned grocery retailer with nearly 10,000 employees and 66 grocery stores across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin and Michigan under the Coborn’s Cash Wise Foods, Marketplace Foods and Hornbacher’s banners. Coborn’s also owns liquor, fuel and pharmacy locations. To support its 130 various retail business units, Coborn’s Inc. operates its own central bakery, dry cleaning facility and grocery distribution center. The company is No. 84 The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.