Publix Debuts Personalized Membership Program With Mobile Payment

To provide a personalized experience to its shoppers, Publix is debuting its Club Publix membership program, according to announcement.

Current holders of accounts at publix.com will be enrolled in the offering automatically, while others can join the program by web, text or app.

“We’re always looking for ways to create a more convenient and rewarding shopping experience for our customers that delivers more of what matters to them,” Mark Irby, Publix vice president of Marketing, said in the announcement. “Customers who join the free program will enjoy a more seamless shopping experience, one that’s more personalized to their individual needs and preferences.”

The free program joins multiple digital features, with the inclusion of early notifications of buy one, get ones (BOGOs) as well as other sales, the choice to get eReceipts, and the chance to pay with a scan of the grocer’s app. According to the announcement, “Club Publix adds personalization to these digital features with exclusive member perks and personalized content.”

Florida-based Publix has more than 1,200 locations in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

In separate mobile payment grocery news, Amazon opened its first cashierless grocery store, Amazon Go Grocery, in Seattle in late February. It works like Amazon’s Go convenience stores in that shoppers come into the brick-and-mortar by scanning an app as they move through a gated turnstile.

Shelf sensors, as well as cameras on the ceiling, keep tabs on what shoppers put in their carts and charge their credit cards that are on file automatically as they leave the premises. Go Grocery is selling about 5,000 stocked items in its roughly 10,400-square-foot store.

While the inaugural Go concept was more of a convenience store that aimed to serve workers in offices, Go Grocery is said to be a full grocery store looking to reach consumers in residential areas.