THE GREEN ROOM | CUSTOMER STORY

NCR Freshop enabled Allegiance sales to grow more than 500%

When Allegiance needed customized, personalized eCommerce for their members, Freshop stepped in. And helped them experience double-digit growth 5+ years running.

" Adapting quickly is essential to our business. NCR Freshop makes it possible."

 

– Donna Zambo,VP and Chief Marketing Officer, Allegiance

What they needed

Customized eCommerce for their members

Allegiance Retail Services, a retailer owned co-op that makes it easier for independent retailers to offer competitive prices, has 30+ members operating 130+ supermarkets in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. When NCR acquired Freshop, the multi-channel eCommerce provider to the grocery and beverage industry, 86 of Allegiance’s member stores were online via the NCR Freshop platform. About 60 of these were Foodtown supermarkets, with 11 at D’Agostino’s and a few at four of their other supermarket retailers. About 60 of Allegiance’s stores were also using NCR POS technology. Before switching to Freshop (which was recently acquired by NCR), Allegiance was frustrated that their current eCommerce solution didn’t offer the level of customization and personalized service they needed. They wanted a system that let them showcase nutritional information (a priority for many of their customers), digital recipes, shoppable recipes and more—within their budget. So they needed an eCommerce solution with a flexible platform that could be customized quickly and easily for their diverse customer communities.

What we delivered

NCR Freshop

Freshop's design and data teams worked closely with Allegiance team members for a smooth implementation of Freshop. That included integrations with Allegiance's loyalty and digital coupon providers for a seamless online shopping experience and automated pay-per-click sponsored products to provide Allegiance with additional revenue.

The Freshop data team created custom daily reports for participating Allegiance supermarkets. The Freshop development team built an integration with last-mile delivery vendors so Allegiance could offer delivery in addition to pick up. Freshop also helped several member stores go live with online payment functionality for EBT SNAP/cash cards after rigorous testing was completed by Freshop's and FNS' Quality Assurance teams. NCR Freshop also supported revenue-generating projects such as cyber Monday gift card initiatives and holiday meal special events.

What happened next

500% growth during a pandemic

Allegiance consistently experienced double digit growth 5+ years running with the help of Freshop. And the co-op company grew more than 500 percent during the COVID surge, demonstrating what a powerful ROI investment they truly made. It also showed a testament to how valuable Freshop is to their supermarket customers' ability to flex business quickly who received customized, personalized online grocery shopping to keep ordering healthy food at affordable prices (something their former eCommerce provider couldn’t do).