Product strategy change may equal grocery savings: The grocery game challenge #3 May 12-18, 2014
A MARKETING PLAN IN ACTION
Sometimes a new business strategy or product strategy forces a company to make changes to their product. In some cases it’s simply the packaging of the product that is changed.
Either way any of these new product design ideas mean that the manufacturer likely wants to get rid of old stock products off the shelves in the grocery stores and retail big box stores to make way for new product packaging.
I often wondered if the same product was on the shelf and you would see a new and improved label on a product whether the earlier product was any good or not.
I’m sure they mean that their other product was great but this is even better. I’m not sure but for the most part they need to keep the product fresh, up to date and appealing to the customers.
Product strategy
What is a marketing strategy? For the most part to me it means they want to find the best way to communicate a new or improved product to the customer, get our attention to purchase items and that means finding appealing ways to do it. It might mean product testing, new packaging and special prices.
New product innovation is important even if the product is not new but they will make it seem like it is to the consumer with minor changes.
You may also find with product strategy size may shrink or even get bigger or the ingredients list might change. I know many of you have talked about noticing product packages shrink. Where you may have found a product in the store last week it may change this week meaning shelving placement, display placements etc. It’s all about attracting the customer to the new product even if it’s not a new product, it just looks different.
It’s all about the money and just the other day my wife mentioned how at the corner shop candy has shrunk since she was a child and the price has gone up. It’s no different with any product if prices go up to make the product either they raise their price, replace ingredients with a lesser quality ingredient or shrink the product.
Yes we need to factor inflation into the equation but sometimes we see product prices keep soaring. The good thing these days is that product pricing wars are happening at almost all the shops around so it’s easier to score a deal because they are all fighting for your business.
Finding product deals
Just as technology changes and we rush out to buy the latest model same goes with every day products at the stores. Whether you buy something that is new and improved or the same product but with a new twist the product strategy might change just to get your mind thinking, I need that.
It’s always hit or miss finding products like this because you don’t know when they will be removing them and replacing the old packaging with the new products on the shelf.
How about that Hellman’s Mayo with Balsamic Vinegar or Franks Red Hot sauce with lime… there’s always something new and improved or just new. Sometimes these new products might not go over well so they discount them and get rid of them or try to find out why and make changes so they are new and improved.
You may also find they discontinue product sizing as well just like we noticed last night at the grocery store. The photo above of Pampers Swaddlers size 5 were sitting in the reduced shopping carts with pink stickers.
We wondered why that would be, so we took a gander over at the baby section and noticed that they no longer carry this package size for Pampers. They carry size 5 Pampers Swaddlers just not the packaging with 112 diapers inside.
Now, what they did have was a smaller box of size 5 diapers regular price $29.99 on sale for $22.99. These boxes that have the pink stickers the cashier told us they are no longer carrying that size diapers as they have a new package and size box in stock for size 5.
The regular price on the jumbo box was $44.99-50% = $22.49 which means if you are a smart shopper and have a child or will have a child in size 5 diapers this is a great deal. You will be getting more diapers in the box and the price is cheaper than the sale price on the new smaller Pampers Swaddlers sized boxes.
Do the math
There was also a full shopping cart of Sunlight dish soap that they were no longer carrying and it’s mainly product size because they do still sell the larger bottles. Not all products are discontinued due to packaging issues some just don’t sell and they want to get rid of it. If you know your prices and products you can easily look on the reduced racks and know straight away what’s a deal and what’s not a deal.
The problem here for most is that is you must do the math like we did with the diapers. You have to go and find the product and see what prices are on the current products and sizes to find out if it’s a great deal. Sometimes they may try to pull the wool over your eyes and you think you are scoring a deal on a discontinued or product with older packaging but you’re not.
I remember about a month or two ago walking around Zehrs and I know some of my grocery game fans might have scored this deal. They had shopping carts filled with Tide laundry detergent that sell for $8.99 or more reduced to a price of $2.99. We thought wow that’s great especially if you pair it with a coupon.
I’m pretty sure there were Brandsaver coupons out at the time for $1.00 off. We looked down the laundry aisle and sure enough the same Tide products were on the shelf BUT the packaging had changed just a bit.
So, if you are a smart shopper you can score some deals on products that are being marketed with new labels, containers, ingredients etc. as long as you do the math and make sure you are getting the best price possible.
Do you buy reduced products because of product strategy or new and improved changes on the original product?
May grocery game challenge posts
If you missed any grocery game posts for the month I will post the line-up for the month each week here in this section for you. 
- Do food pictures tempt you to buy the product? The grocery game challenge #1 April 28-May 4
- Does your meal plan include a new recipe each week?: The grocery game challenge #2 May 5-11, 2014
Grocery saving tips
Click, Save and Print. It’s that easy!
Free Money Saving Downloads are awesome lists that were created to get us on track to work towards reaching our budgeting goals and now we are sharing them with you.
I hope you take the time to get back on track and start the saving process in your grocery budget today.
Get organized with a FREE freezer inventory, meal plan, shopping list, price comparison list and much more all for FREE. CLICK HERE to download all the free lists and even our family budget spreadsheet for FREE.
NEW!! You can now download the FREE Canadian Budget Binder Budget Spreadsheet in Excel…Grab it while you can… It’s FREE! We use it to budget…check it out!
Ultimate grocery shopping guide
Everything you want to know about grocery shopping in Canada is below with new information added monthly.
If you missed a Grocery Game Challenge post some of the most popular posts are listed below or you can now find the posts listed on their own page called The Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide.
If you know a topic that should be discussed send me an email and let me know.
Food food and more food
Shoppers Drug Mart
- Neilson 4L milk $3.97 x 3
- 2 x Nativa organic granola cereal sale $2.49
- 2 x Neilson cottage cheese sale $1.99
- Eggs Sale $1.99
Total out-of-pocket $22.86
Zehrs
- 4 x Cracker Barrel cheese sale $3.99
- 2 x butter sale $2.99
Total out-of-pocket $ 1.94 used points $20.00
Food Basics
- Shreddies Sale $2.99
- 4x Redpath Sugar Sale $1.44
- 2x Philadelphia cream cheese (big containers) $2.88 ea.
- 3x Yellow onions Sale $0.88 ea.
- Bananas $1.29
- 3 x Cavendish Russet potatoes Sale $0.98 ea. 5lb bags
- 2 x bags of Basa Fillets Sale $5.99 ea.
- 2 x seedless cucumbers Sale $0.88 ea.
- Tomatoes on the vine Sale $0.88lb $2.87
- Lactancia dark chocolate milk reduced $1.50- $1.00 coupon on carton $0.50
- Lactancia iced coffee reg $4.99 reduced $2.50- $1.00 coupon on carton $1.50
- 2 x Rudolphs Bavarian bread sale $2.00 ea.
- Plain Yogurt 3% Astro Sale $1.99
Total out-of-pocket $51.79
Grocery shop results
Yearly grocery budget for two: $2820
(The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $240 per year or $20 per month.)
- Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $235.00 or $78.33 week with potentially one no-shop week per month or $58.75 for 4 weeks per month. (During the months with 5 weeks we just make it work)
- Total Budget for May $235.00-$20.89=$214.11/4=$53.52
- Total Coupons Used this Week : $2.00
- Total Coupons Used to date: $35.75
- Total Discounts this Week: $0
- Total Discounts Used to date: $5.54
- Total Gift Cards Used to date: $33.18
- Total Rewards Points Used: $20.00
- Total Rewards Points Used to date: $20.00
- Stockpile Budget ($20.00): $15.10 (extra lean beef)
- Stockpile Budget Used to Date: $20.00+$19.08+$17.94+ $2.06+$20.00+$15.10 (May)
- Total Spent This Week: $76.59
- Total Spent So Far May: $109.16+$76.59=$185.75
- Total Over/Under spend this shop: OVER $23.07
- Total Over/Under spend for the month: $n/a
- Total Left to Spend for the Month: $14.89
- Total to Carry Over Next Month: $n/a
- Total Spent To Date This Year: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $242.66+ Feb $191.74+ March $255.82+April $235.07
- Weekly Overview: Well we spent more than we anticipated but we are well stocked up on cheese, milk, fish, bread.. all sorts. I’m confident we will be able to stick to our grocery budget for the month plus we have a few dollars yet to spend in our stockpiling budget.
Coupon Sleuth
Did you find any coupons? If so share the details in the comment section of this post where you found it and what the coupon is for with expiry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Read the rules first and if you have any questions email me or comment on this post with your question and someone will answer you as soon as possible.
- Do I have to be Canadian to post my Grocery Shop?
No, you don’t have to be Canadian to post your shops only to win a monthly prize. We have fans who post their grocery shop who live all over the world.
- When does the Grocery Game close each month?
The Grocery Game Challenge closes at midnight of the last Sunday of the last post for the month. You can post your shops all month-long.
- Does your Grocery Budget include health and beauty and laundry products?
Yes our Grocery Budget includes such items as shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap, fabric softener, dish soap etc. We don’t mind stockpiling items that won’t be affected by expiry dates or have long expiry dates but not so much food any more. It’s just one way to help cut your budget to save money.
Here are your latest Coupon Match-ups of the week and your weekly Checkout 51 offers from 25 Newspaper Inserts around Canada compliments of Save Big Live Better that you can use to help you save money in the Grocery Game Challenge.
- What is an FPC?
An FPC is a free product coupon which means you can get a free product as described on the coupon.
- How Do I Know what stores accept coupons?
You can find all your store coupon policies here. If you are not sure it’s always best to call the store and ask.
I can tell you about grocery shopping and what we do in terms of shopping to save money and how it works for us. There are no wrong or right answers, just smart choices.
Over time you will gradually learn where you should and shouldn’t go in the grocery store or at least how to say no, I’m on a budget I need to buy this or that.
You may also substitute items in order to stick to your grocery budget to make it work. Nobody is perfect, heck we struggle with this part of our budget like many people do.
This is why the grocery game challenge was created to not only show you that we are like everyone else but to bring us all together to work as a team to get our budgets on track.
If you have just joined The Grocery Game Challenge 2014 get ready to dive deep into your grocery budget and learn just where you are spending, how much you are spending and what you are saving.
Feel free to read all the above posts that I linked to above which I feel are relevant to learning about the grocery budget and grocery shopping in general.
You’ve made a wise decision to take control of your grocery budget now show me your shops and let’s get saving!
Welcome to The Grocery Game Challenge Canada 2014!
-Mr.CBB
Are You New To Canadian Budget Binder?
- Follow Me on Social Media: Twitter, Facebook , Pinterest , Stumble Upon, Reddit and Google+
- Check out my new Free Recipe Index
- If you like FREE then click this link for my FREE Excel Budget Spreadsheet and all my Free Money Saving Lists!
