Fresh and Easy Market
There is a fairly new grocery market near my neighborhood and I visited several times so far. I wasn’t aware of the market and according to wikipedia, Fresh & Easy Market “is a subsidiary of the UK-based retailer Tesco, the world’s fourth largest retailer, and is Tesco’s attempt to expand into the United States.”
I went to check out the market after receiving one of their flyers in the mail. The flyer contained a perforated coupon discounting five dollars if you spend more than $20. The building is a stand alone retail building with about 50 parking spaces or so. It is located on a high traffic street a block to another grocery market and few restaurants. The building is not adjacent to any other retail building. The one I went to was next to a Chevron gasoline station.
The first thing I notice upon entering the store is that all the checkout lanes were self service. Neat idea, saves the company money. I usually go in a market, grab only the things I need and head out but I did go through each lanes at Fresh and Easy. More than 50% of their product carry the Fresh and Easy label. The vegetables, fruits, dairies (milk, cheese, ice cream), microwaveable food, meat, condiments, etc. are Fresh and Easy labeled and are very fresh.
Fresh and Easy put great emphasis in freshness and green. Their labeled products prominently displays the expiration date and when the product is a day or two away from its expiration, a Fresh & Easy paste a 50% off sticker on its label. I picked up a few microwaveable food that evening.
An interesting marketing strategy that Fresh and Easy depends on is their $5 coupon. For the business to maintain its positive cashflow, it needs to bring in the new and repeat customers and the coupon would eventually convert these customers to become a loyal customer. But personally, I would not shop at Fresh & Easy unless I was near the market and am carrying in one of the coupon. I find their food a bit on the high price compared to the big guys but you can certainly find some items at a reasonable price. But I find myself heading there twice a month when I have those coupons with me, and the last visit there, one of the employee was passing out those coupons when customers were checking out their bags. I guess the business is a little slow especially in today’s economy.