If you read my earlier article on frugal grocery shopping, you are now aware of online apps for grocery flyers, like Reebee and Flipp. But did you know that there are also apps that will give you cash back for grocery shopping? Granted, it’s not quite so straightforward. The apps of which I speak trade copies of your grocery receipts for cash back, so long as you have purchased specific products for which you then provide your grocery receipt as proof of purchase. It’s kind of like grocery coupons in reverse.
As best I can tell, the granddaddy of cash-back apps is Checkout 51. Another that has since come along and proved to be somewhat useful (to me) is Snap by Groupon. Previously called SnapSaves, this app used to have the world’s most annoying cash register sound that would play whenever it was launched, could not be muted, and drove Underground Man around the bend each time I launched it. Mercifully, once Snapsaves was bought and updated by Groupon, that annoying sound went away.
Another cash-back app is called Zweet and was for a very long time available only to iPhone users. The makers of Zweet finally recognized that Android owns the smartphone market and produced, at long last, an Android version.
Clearly, this app market is evolving. There are several variations on these apps, but so far Checkout 51, Snap, and Zweet are the only ones I know of that work in Canada.
Cash-back apps are pretty much all the same: you browse for offers in the app, purchase items on the list of offers, submit your proofs of purchase, and receive credits to your account that can eventually be redeemed for real money. It’s simple.
Or so you might think. First, you have to create your grocery list. Then you have to cross-check your list with these three or four apps to see if any have matching offers. Then you have to remember which app has which offer, when it’s time to remit your receipts. I suppose this is no worse than remembering to bring your print coupons when you go shopping. But the app approach, it seems to me, requires a bit more advance planning.
The larger problem I have with cash-back apps is the offers themselves. Much like my earlier criticism that grocery coupons are almost always provided by manufacturers of expensive prepared foods, so too are the cash-back offers. This week’s offers, for example, mostly involve products with the names Gerber, Huggies, Aveeno, and Kelloggs. Needless to say, many of the promotional items are not part of the healthy diet (according to Canada’s Food Guide). Furthermore, they aren’t even really groceries at all. (I don’t consider skincare products or diapers to be groceries, but I’ll buy them in a grocery store if I can get a good enough deal.) To be fair, this week my selection of apps is also offering cash-back on real food items like milk, eggs, ground beef, yams, chard, and watermelon. My concern is just that the proportion of unhealthy, prepared commercial goods outnumbers whole food by five to one. Which do you think the average consumer will choose?
A variant of the grocery cash-back app that I find much more compelling comes directly from the grocery chains themselves. Sobeys recently launched an app that bills itself as “your personal shopping companion.” I found it surprisingly useful. You can use the current Sobeys flyer to build a grocery list in the app, and it allows you to access special Club Sobeys point offers that you’ve added to your Sobeys card.
Okay, it’s a bit cumbersome to have to access the email with your Club Sobeys offers, click to add them to your card, and then present your card to receive the bonus points when you pay. But I think it’s well worth it. There are four possible options to redeem your Club Sobeys points: (1) for cash savings on a future shop; (2) for merchandise through the Club Sobeys online rewards catalogue; (3) for a donation to a local food bank; or (4) for Aeroplan miles. Two Sobeys Club points equals one Aeroplan mile. Since Club Sobeys points are awarded at a rate of one per one dollar spent, that means for every two dollars spent you gain one Aeroplan mile. That is not a bad earning rate, compared to Esso Gas rewards, for instance, where three dollars spent converts to one Aeroplan mile, and they don’t round up.
The simplest and most straightforward of the grocery store rewards programs is Loblaws’ PC Plus points program. Again, the Loblaws chain has its own app, but in this case your loyalty program card is programmed right into the app, so you don’t need to carry it separately. Smart! I hate having to carry a bunch of loyalty cards when I shop, but I always have my smartphone on me. And in this case the weekly special offers are built right into the app. All you have to do is tap Refresh Offers, and the week’s deals automatically become available on your virtual loyalty card.
I don’t know why Loblaws doesn’t just push every week’s offers to its app, with no requirement from the user to do anything but spend money. I guess it has something to do with shopper engagement leading to more purchases. I really should ask the Underground Man: he’s the marketing guru in our family.
What I like most about the PC Plus program is that it offers bonus points on real groceries (lettuce, bananas, onions and berries are regularly featured) AND it seems to use big data to observe the types of items I typically purchase. I frequently receive featured offers that are specific to my personal shopping patterns. (Magnum Ice Cream bars? Why yes, thank you, I will buy some of those premium bars of chocolate and ice cream deliciousness!) Then, at every 20,000 point increment, I can exchange my points to take $20 off my grocery bill right at the cash.
That’s really what it’s supposed to be about, isn’t it? Saving made simpler.