Attract New Customers & Bigger Share With Upside

Consumer prices for food rose 7.7% in the last year according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and gas prices hit their 2023 peak in mid-April. With costs continuing to escalate, customers are seeking cash back.

That's exactly what Red Oval partner Upside delivers. Upside makes it easy for shoppers to get cash back and is an easy tool for retailers to attract shoppers to their stores.

Upside (formerly known as GetUpside) is an online marketplace that drives incremental profit to grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations by bringing in new customers and increasing share of wallet from your current customers, whether they are infrequent or loyal. It's especially effective at bringing in new shoppers.

“In today’s climate, where consumers demand greater value and grocers require profitable growth to succeed, partnerships like these can make a significant difference," Tyler Renahagan, Upside VP of grocery, told Progressive Grocer.

How It Works

A shopper downloads the app and creates an account. The next time they need to go grocery shopping, they open the app to see what grocery store offers cash back. They will "claim" the offer at your store and head over to shop. Depending on the store, they will either check in via the app or snap a picture of their receipt after shopping. Then Upside sends the money to the shopper's account!

Retailers benefit by seeing new shoppers with bigger baskets. For existing shoppers, Upside's algorithm knows the average basket size for each shopper, and promotes your store to qualified shoppers. The cash back offer is a shopper incentive to spend more in YOUR store, and Upside can predict how much bigger their basket will be compared to their average. 

A Unique App & Growing Business

Upside is in a unique position of being the only company of its kind. “Specifically for grocery – a big differentiator is that we partner directly with the retailers. That way, we can allow small independents to really gain from being able to compete with this personalized offer space. Many competitors that we usually get compared to actually partner directly with the brands,” Upside's Business Development Director Alyssa Ziegler said.

Upside is experiencing rapid growth, and while it started off as a fuel rewards program, they have now expanded into restaurants and retail grocery. Many of their users are adding grocery stores to their reward claims.

“The need for our product has never been greater,” Ziegler said. “Consumers need more spending power and retailers need more profit. There's huge downward pressure on the retailer's net operating margin and the strained customer spending because of inflation, supply chain issues, higher labor costs, and revenue paid to third-party delivery services.”

Retailer Benefits

Upside is very hands-off, without the need for IT or operational integration. “The program is kind of a set-it-and-let-it-run type of program, which we find amazing for independents of the world who are already running around like crazy doing a million different things,” Ziegler said.

Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) retailers are already seeing positive results with Upside through specific increases in the following metrics:

• 23% of the customers are new (on average)
• 10% increase in basket size from Upside users
• 1.4x customer visits
• 1.6x customer spend

Upside does not replace loyalty programs and Ziegler said about 20% of their new customers are joining the retailer loyalty programs in addition to using the Upside app.

"Unlike other marketing programs I've tried, Upside can be measured," Jeff Maurer, owner of Maurer's Market in Wisconsin, said.  "With Upside I'm able to tell on a daily basis how well it's performing for us, not only with incremental sales but with profitability and return on that investment."

Key Takeaways:

• Upside increases traffic and basket size
• Upside brings in a greater share of wallet from a retailer’s most loyal customers. When looking at Upside retailers across the board, they are usually increasing the most loyal shopper spending by 62%
• Upside does not replace a retailer’s loyalty program; it complements it
• Upside's measurement proves it brings incremental profit on each transaction; if Upside can't prove it, the retailer does not pay
• A retailer can setup Upside in 30 minutes or less

Click here to watch a testimonial from Jeff Maurer, owner of Maurer's Market IGA.

For next steps and to learn more, contact Upside's Alyssa Ziegler.