Kroger Acquires Digital Coupon Provider YOU Technology

By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA

Acquisition to help drive grocer’s digital strategy

Kroger is set to keep providing its customers with millions more digital coupons. This week, it announced its acquisition of digital coupons and promotions provider, YOU Technology Brand Services. The company, which has roughly two-dozen retail clients including Supervalu, Giant Eagle, and Kroger, will continue to provide these clients with its platform that drives sales online, in-store, and via mobile while operating as an independent company within Kroger.

According to Jeff Talbot, Kroger VP of customer loyalty, this acquisition will help Kroger gain a more significant presence in the Silicon Valley (which is where YOU Tech is based), and will continue to keep the company up to speed in an increasingly digital retail environment. Talbot says, “This transaction is consistent with our digital customer growth plan and provides Kroger a significant opportunity to expand our presence in Silicon Valley, enhancing our exposure to new technologies.” To date, Kroger’s partnership with YOU Tech has been an important one, as YOU Tech’s digital coupon platform has helped provide hundreds of millions of digital coupons to Kroger customers, Talbot says.

Since 2009, Kroger has been offering customers digital coupons. Within three years, the company reached 500 million digital coupon downloads. However, within the past 12 months, the company has seen even more demand for digital coupons; in fact, consumers downloaded 400 million digital coupons over the last year — a number that gives insight into just how in-demand this service has become.

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The YOU Tech acquisition comes just a few weeks after Kroger completed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Harris Teeter. This acquisition had been in the works for a while and was an important one for both companies to learn from each other and adopt key strategies and services.  For Kroger in particular, this acquisition could put the company on stronger footing to explore online grocery services. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Kroger is particularly interested in Harris Teeter’s Express Lane service, which enables customers to order their groceries online and pick them up curbside. CEO Rodney McMullen told The Enquirer, “We’ve been studying the concept, but we’ll have actual results to look at. I’d be shocked if we couldn’t do that at a significant number of stores. This new service, should it prove to be a feasible possibility, would fit into the company’s goals to strengthen its connection with consumers in both digital and mobile channels.

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