Unified, Certco Bring Personalized Digital Offer Capabilities to Indies

Grocery wholesaler outfits Unified Grocers and Certco have inked a partnership with AppCard, a service that provides a personalized marketing and CRM platform for grocers. The partnership effort aims to bring the platform to the independent grocers in their networks.

Based in New York, AppCard provides the retailers the ability to increase profitability by engaging shoppers with personalized offers via digital circulars, as well as text, e-mail and push notifications. It ties item-level transaction data with shoppers' identities, giving retailers valuable information for driving sales and bringing customers back to their stores. Additionally, its suite of marketing automation and customer-relationship-management tools allow grocers to target shoppers with personalized marketing campaigns to increase average basket size and improve coupon-redemption rates.

AppCard gives shoppers the ease and convenience of receiving personalized offers from their favorite stores with just one app for all participating stores. The more they shop, the more points they receive to redeem for discounts at the cash register. AppCard is available for iPhone and Android phones, and also as a Web service.

Commerce, Calif.-based Unified Grocers is a retailer-owned wholesale grocery distributor that supplies independent retailers throughout the western United States. Certco Inc., headquartered in Fitchburg, Wis., is a leading wholesaler in the Midwest, serving more than 200 stores throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa.