Today’s grocery shoppers are less loyal and more price-sensitive than ever. An Upside survey found that 81% compare prices across multiple retailers before making a purchase. That may feel like a challenge, but in fact, it's a major opportunity.

Fresh Thyme can attract more of these value-driven shoppers—without slashing prices across the board—by offering personalized promotions that speak directly to their behaviors.

While blanket discounts may seem like the go-to strategy, they often fall short. They lack precision, eat into margin, and don’t always move the needle. Personalized promotions, on the other hand, can drive real behavior change. They meet shoppers where they are, with offers that reflect what they actually need to make the switch—or to keep coming back.

Move Beyond Costly Blanket Discounts 

Every customer faces some kind of friction—something that makes them hesitate to shop. Sometimes it's price perception. Sometimes it's a habit or convenience. Blanket promotions try to overcome this friction by treating every shopper the same.

That’s where the inefficiency starts. Shoppers who were already loyal get unnecessary discounts. Others, who need a stronger incentive, remain unmoved.

For Fresh Thyme, margin can get unnecessarily eroded without a guaranteed return. 

Personalized offers change that. They allow the business to match the offer to the individual—giving just enough incentive to drive the visit, and only when needed. It's a way to reduce waste and move from reactive to responsive marketing.

Personalized Promotions: Where Profit Meets Precision

Personalized promotions are built to drive behavior change by targeting the specific barriers keeping each shopper away.

Instead of sending out a standard $5-off coupon to everyone, a personalized offer might deliver 5% cash back to a regular, and 15% to a competitor’s customer.

For a grocer like Fresh Thyme focused on optimizing store-level performance, this approach delivers measurable growth without added operational burden by:

• Bringing in new MyThyme users
• Encouraging trial of high-margin private label and wellness items
• Avoiding the profit erosion of over-discounting

This strategy not only improves ROI, it protects Fresh Thyme’s brand positioning, offering a smarter value to shoppers without diluting price perception.

How Upside Fits In

Upside makes personalization effortless. Our digital marketplace connects Fresh Thyme to interested shoppers using personalized promotions. These shoppers receive tailored offers based on real behavior—and Fresh Thyme only pays when those offers generate proven incremental revenue.

There’s no disruption to existing operations. The program works alongside the MyThyme app, without the need for new infrastructure or tech lift.

This is especially effective in Fresh Thyme’s saturated Midwest markets, where growth must come from smarter traffic, not just new stores.

And it works. Just ask Heritage Grocers Group. With Upside, they saw a 75% return on investment and retained 86% of new customers acquired through personalized offers.

That’s not just better marketing—it’s smarter growth.

Personalization: A Profitable Way to Win 

Fresh Thyme doesn’t need to discount more—it needs to find a way to offer more value. Personalized offers are how you win back the basket without sacrificing margin or identity.

Want to see how personalized promotions could drive growth for Fresh Thyme? Let’s connect and talk about what performance-based marketing really looks like.