Saturday, September 8, 2007

The Consumers are Speaking! Check out 'Bring Back Doubles' Web Site

I was tracking a link to my blog post, and something miraculous occurred. 'Loyal Giant Eagle shoppers' (their words) bought a domain name and established a grassroots website called 'Bring Back Doubles.'

They detail several points about why they are upset with G-Eagle. Here is one excerpt:

".... We are not convinced that manufacturers are "moving toward the trends of lower coupon usage."Coupons are the manufacturers bread and butter. They are incentives to get consumers to try new products and fall in love with old ones. Even if coupons from Sunday papers are not redeemed, they serve as a means of product advertisement for the Sunday paper. Also, over the past few years, internet sites such as www.coupons.com, www.coolsavings.com and others have popped up. The Internet has also brought about coupon coordinating sites such as www.TheGroceryGame.com and NorthEast Ohio Couponers which help consumers make the best use of their coupons. These types of sites are gaining momentum. The Grocery Game, a paid subscription coordinating service, had sales of over 6 million dollars in 2006 and recently branched out to offer coupon services to people living in the United Kingdom. Giant Eagle claims that consumers have lost interest in redeeming coupons. This is interesting because while the grocery chain has ended double coupons in the Akron/Canton/Cleveland areas, Giant Eagle actively allows coupon doubling in regions such as their Columbus area stores...."

This is not just a slapped up website I am truly impressed. Please give it a read.

And I would be remiss if I didn't send you to their 'what you can do to help' section.

A big hat tip to the group! Peace Out - 3C

Giant Eagle Reverses Their Decision To Eliminate Double Coupons...But Don't Get Too Excited

I wrote here about their plan to eliminate the double coupons. Sometimes it pays to stay up late -- WKYC reporter Dick Russ writes that Giant Eagle came to their senses and as of tomorrow (well, today), you can double your coupons again!

This is not a permanent reversal however.

Store executives claim to be responding to customer complaints that there wasn't enough notice. So now you can double through September 30th. Would love to know the statistics...you know, numbers of coupons actually redeemed for double discounts on a weekly basis.

In any case, you still only have a few weeks to do it, then I guess Giant Eagle will revert back to their original, non-consumer friendly plan. Peace Out - 3C