Teaming Up For Discounts
DeMOTTE, Ind. -- The Tysen Family Market chain of grocery stores, located in Indiana, has developed a way to offer discounts on purchases that can make filling up consumers' tanks virtually free.
The program, which uses digital coupon cards, allows grocery customers to receive deep discounts on gasoline at the chain's convenience store/gas station. When used during a purchase, the cards accumulate points for specially-marked items, the Post-Tribune reported. If the customers at the chain's three stores spend properly, they can get their gas at no charge, according to owner Larry Donis.
Donis opened his first convenience store -- Tysen's Gas-N-Go -- on September 18, just two blocks down from his flagship grocery store. Once opened, he allowed customers to use their Tysen's Savers Club cards at the DeMotte, Ind. Gas-N-Go pumps to receive discounts on gas purchases, the newspaper reported.
According to Donis, one customer, Marilyn Stone, has already filled up her tank for 4 cents per gallon, totaling 55 cents, with 215 points from the program. He believes that in the future his regular customers will accrue enough points for free gasoline.
The ongoing promotion is part of a new system at the grocery stores that incorporates the digital cards and encourages customers to use them. "We felt like this was key to making it work," Donis told the Post-Tribune. "Everything's electronic. There's no coupon. It's very easy for the consumer."
It is also beneficial to the stores than traditional paper coupons as well. "The retailers don't like them [paper coupons], the manufacturers don't like them," he added.
Donis told the newspaper that he is considering opening more gas stations near his other grocery stores in Kouts and Wheatfield, Ind., but declined to comment further.
The program, which uses digital coupon cards, allows grocery customers to receive deep discounts on gasoline at the chain's convenience store/gas station. When used during a purchase, the cards accumulate points for specially-marked items, the Post-Tribune reported. If the customers at the chain's three stores spend properly, they can get their gas at no charge, according to owner Larry Donis.
Donis opened his first convenience store -- Tysen's Gas-N-Go -- on September 18, just two blocks down from his flagship grocery store. Once opened, he allowed customers to use their Tysen's Savers Club cards at the DeMotte, Ind. Gas-N-Go pumps to receive discounts on gas purchases, the newspaper reported.
According to Donis, one customer, Marilyn Stone, has already filled up her tank for 4 cents per gallon, totaling 55 cents, with 215 points from the program. He believes that in the future his regular customers will accrue enough points for free gasoline.
The ongoing promotion is part of a new system at the grocery stores that incorporates the digital cards and encourages customers to use them. "We felt like this was key to making it work," Donis told the Post-Tribune. "Everything's electronic. There's no coupon. It's very easy for the consumer."
It is also beneficial to the stores than traditional paper coupons as well. "The retailers don't like them [paper coupons], the manufacturers don't like them," he added.
Donis told the newspaper that he is considering opening more gas stations near his other grocery stores in Kouts and Wheatfield, Ind., but declined to comment further.