What’s up at the commissary? We asked for an update and here’s what we learned about their commissary brand promotion (starting today!), the launch of internet shopping, the new “Yes!” program, and self-service bagging lines (you wanted them – they decided to make them!)
Commissary brands
Commissary brands will be among the hottest promotions in July for patrons looking to save even more money. Starting July 23, commissaries worldwide will begin a two-week sales event focusing on the commissary brands, said Tracie Russ, sales director for the Defense Commissary Agency.
“When our patrons enter their stores they will see our commissary brands extravaganza, offering super savings on a variety of items. Our private label brands combined with the promotions we have for national brands will make this a hot month for patrons to use their commissary benefit.”
The commissary brands promotions will feature some of the following products in the store front-end displays and the Wall of Value areas: trash bags of various sizes, disposable bowls, canned vegetables, pie crust, bottled waters, shredded cheeses, vegetable shortening and more. Stores will also promote several TopCare items on aisle endcaps including allergy tablets, vitamins, cold and flu products, heartburn relief and antacids.
TippyToes brand of organic baby food joined the commissary brand lineup in April, and Full Circle Market began offering organic beans and chick peas in May, said Jennifer Ferrell, DeCA’s private label program manager.
Commissary store brands arrive first to stateside stores and follow about six weeks later overseas.
“The TippyToes brand caters to babies and provides a line of everything we need to care for our little patrons from tip to toe,” she added. “This is a new expansion into the baby market as we offer our busy patrons high-quality, low-cost options under a name they can trust.”
Under this product line, commissary patrons are seeing a variety of organic baby food pouches in the following 10 varieties:
- Butternut Squash Apple Raspberry
- Apple Blueberry Spinach
- Pear Peach Strawberry
- Apple
- Apple Zucchini Spinach Strawberry
- Pear Blueberry Spinach
- Banana
- Pear
- Banana Peach Apricot
- Banana Strawberry Beet
Since the middle of May, commissary patrons have seen the following products under the Full Circle Market brand organic line:
- Organic Pinto Beans
- Organic Chick Peas
- Organic Black Beans
- Organic Dark Red Kidney Beans
“Full Circle Market is a complimentary expansion to our Freedom’s Choice vegetable line, giving our patrons a trustworthy, affordable and high-quality organic selection,” Ferrell said. “We continue to search for additional organic choices for our patrons and intend to grow this line further.”
Full Circle Market and TippyToes are part of the DeCA commissary brand lineup that also includes Freedom’s Choice for food items, HomeBase for nonfood items and TopCare for health and beauty care products.
“With every new item we are offering our patrons more options to maximize their benefit with commissary brands that provide the quality they expect and the savings they deserve.”
CLICK2GO
DeCA is preparing to unveil its new CLICK2GO internet shopping service starting with a tentative Sept.4, 2018 kickoff ceremony at the Fort Eustis Commissary. Since 2013, the agency has piloted CLICK2GO under a third-party contract that managed the ecommerce applications at three commissaries (Fort Lee, Virginia; Travis Air Force Base, California; and Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska). Now, thanks to the implementation of enhanced ecommerce capabilities integrated into our Enterprise Business Solution (EBS), the agency is offering a new service to more stores (both stateside and overseas) starting with the pilot at Fort Eustis.
We want to work out all bugs in this new process and will use Fort Eustis as the training ground. We want to figure out staffing requirements, procedures on order substitutions, customer service and more. Part of this will help us gauge what changes with the existing format we may want to implement. Right now we are headed into the right direction putting together an online grocery shopping program that we can scale to the level of customer demand, which we really weren’t able to do with the previous version. The new CLICK2GO, with our new EBS system, has that capability.
Currently, DeCA is working on the deployment schedule for this new roll out. As the agency rolls out the new version, there will not be a gap in service with stores that currently have the initial CLICK2GO.
“The new system is state-of-the-art and has integrated the item selection process into the point of sale system, so our folks won’t have to rekey these orders into our system. We are excited about that because it makes the service much more responsive to customer needs and desires, and allows us to meet a much higher level of customer demand.” -ADM Bianchi
Your Everyday Savings (Yes!)
Commissary prices on hundreds of popular items are now even lower and easier to spot with the Defense Commissary Agency’s new “YES!” program. Short for “Your Everyday Savings!,” the YES! program helps make stateside commissaries more competitive with grocers outside the gate who often lower prices on certain goods to entice consumers inside their store where more expensive items await.
Since June 1, commissary patrons have seen bright orange YES! shelf labels and signs that highlight reduced prices on hundreds of items. YES! items include popular brands of flavored iced teas, pasta, macaroni and cheese, Spam, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, baby food, nutritional shakes, potato chips and other selected snack foods, apple juice, vegetable juice, coffee creamer, coffee, energy drinks, soup, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, avocadoes, paper towels, toilet tissue, bottled water, clothes detergent, dish soap, fabric softener and pet food.
With YES! Commissaries use variable pricing to help compete with other retailers who often drop prices on attractive ‘image’ items that consumers tend to buy the most. Lowering prices on these items reinforces the fact that our patrons’ best option for overall savings remains their commissary. The program is designed to help commissaries level the playing field when it comes to the perceived value of the benefit.
Self-service bagging lanes
The option to have a self-service bagging lane with a cashier is not new to grocery retail. We were prompted to do it based on feedback received from customers who wanted the option to bag their own groceries. The patron feedback was a result of the personal outreach by retired Rear Adm. Robert J. Bianchi, DeCA’s then interim director and CEO and now special assistant for commissary operations to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He reached out to installation commanders and their leadership chain.
As part of this outreach, he also tasked commissary store directors with meeting with their individual base commanders to solicit their feedback on their commissary benefit. Through this outreach, patrons had asked for the option to bag their own groceries. We currently have full-service checkouts with baggers and self-service checkouts without baggers.
In January, DeCA tested the option at more than 120 commissaries and by spring had instituted it at all stores. Basically in the lanes that are marked “Self-Service Bagging Lanes,” a cashier will scan the patron’s purchases and collect payment. The patron will then bag their own groceries and carry it out to their vehicle.
“We are committed to partnering with the installation commanders to deliver the best commissary benefit possible to help enhance the quality of life benefit of our military communities. The self-service bagging lanes are a direct result of us asking our patrons what they wanted in their commissaries to help improve their shopping experience. Ultimately, my job is to improve that customer connection and that customer shopping experience. And, between our industry partners, our own initiatives and working with the other stakeholders on the base and the other resale community, we can significantly do that.” -ADM Bianchi