At Save-A-Lot, we’ve made it our unwritten corporate mission to “serve the underserved” (that “r” in “under” is terribly important, in case you may have misread). Basically, we take pride in bringing grocery to rarely sought after communities (for information on “Food Deserts” you can learn about our stance here). Sure, we have a great deal of our stores in wonderful, thriving cities and townships across the country, but the great thing about our format is our ability to adapt and work in areas where traditional grocery has failed.
This is a major point of contention for many folks (especially by-the-book capitalists and potential business owners), the logic being: “If the market has not changed, and could previously not support a grocery opportunity, then the market has spoken.” (Kind of makes you think of the fast food joint that has opened and reopened 3 times over the last 10 years since you first moved into the neighborhood, right?) This is our day-to-day challenge: ensuring that we have committed stores to “neighborhood’s in need” that can not only survive, but thrive given market conditions.
This aside is slightly off the beaten path for the title of this post, but I think it clearly illustrates the mentality and ethic we take as a non-traditional retail outlet. For me, in the digital space, it presents a challenging, yet tremendous opportunity. Just as our company’s goal is to successfully merchandise and provide fresh, quality goods to folks who do not have them readily available, my personal goal is to provide fresh, quality information to folks who are not used to having those resources at their disposal.
My job at Save-A-Lot is twofold: 1.) To shepherd an online, connected culture both internally to our associates and externally to our shoppers (this includes providing relevant content in a consistent and easy-to-use manner that is equally valuable and accessible) and 2.) Communicating with our shoppers in a manner that incites trial and store traffic. At the end of the day, we currently stay in business through 1,200 (and growing!) brick and mortar locations across 39 states and our marketing department (although highly different than traditional grocery) is rooted in retail mindset and promotion.
My goal here is to outline, both subjectively and objectively, the unique challenges and sometimes quirky situations that come out of serving this community. It is a segment of Internet users that has previously not been studied, let alone sought after, and their expression online is second to none.
Image courtesy of swanksalot’s Flickr stream
