Merryfield, Cornerstone Team on Learn & Earn Program
Merryfield PBC has joined forces with Cornerstone for Natural on a new in-store consumer education, incentives and rewards program, Learn & Earn. Powered by the Merryfield Rewards app and Cornerstone’s Smart Shelf Tag technology, Learn & Earn will aim to influence consumers’ point-of-purchase decisions through in-aisle branded digital content and exclusive incentives and rewards unlocked with a smartphone.
Starting early next year, shoppers at participating Learn & Earn retailers will see new in-store signage and at-shelf QR codes displayed for participating brands. Scanning a QR code with a smartphone camera immediately reveals product information and educational content, and now, through the Merryfield app, shoppers will be able unlock new exclusive incentives to buy a particular product on their trip.
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“It’s much harder than it should be for people to find accurate and trustworthy information about food and other everyday products they want to buy for their families,” said Zooey Deschanel, actress and co-founder and chief creative officer of Merryfield, a privately held public benefit corporation based in Boston. “With Merryfield’s new Learn & Earn program, we can bring honest, on-demand information to people right in store aisles and pair it with new digital product incentives. Inflation is impacting what people can buy and where they shop. Every bit of savings will help people.”
Because Learn & Earn is facilitated through the Merryfield Rewards Network, brands and retailers taking part in the program will have exclusive access to a growing suite of consumer activation and insights solutions. Merryfield users are rewarded for sharing all of their everyday purchases, whether in-store, online or click-and-collect, from grocery, household, pet supplies and apparel, to quick-serve restaurants and health-and-wellness services. This real-time holistic view of consumer purchases offers brand and retail partners unprecedented visibility into consumer preferences and behavior.
“Enhancing Smart Shelf Tags with digital incentives and rewards should further accelerate conversion at-shelf for participating brands and retailers,” said David Williams, EVP of business development at Tampa, Fla.-based Cornerstone for Natural, a division of Cornerstone Consulting Inc.
“Today, natural food stores, food co-ops and independent grocery stores are inherently at a disadvantage compared to big chain and big-box stores,” noted Merryfield founder and CEO David Mayer. “We created Learn & Earn with the needs of the tens of thousands of local and regional independent retailers across the U.S. in mind. We wanted to help elevate the in-store experience with a differentiating new consumer-facing program, engaging digital in-store experiences and additional new savings exclusively for Learn & Earn retailer shoppers. Learn & Earn is a super-easy to implement way to deliver digital in-store education paired with powerful at-shelf digital promotion tools that are usually just the domain of the biggest chains.”
Learn & Earn will go live at select retail partners in early 2023.
Among Merryfield’s participating better-for-you brands are Stonyfield Organic, Applegate, Health-Ade, Primal Kitchen, Vital Farms and Bob’s Red Mill, to name just a few.
