Kroger Knocks Off 15 Cents a Gallon

CINCINATTI--Kroger, a Cincinnati-based grocery chain, is taking a crack at luring more customers to its fuel centers with a promotion timed to take advantage of motorists' search for cheap fuel, reported the Cincinatti-based Enquirer.

Beginning next week at 35 Kroger stores in greater Cincinnati and Dayton, shoppers can get a discount of 15 cents a gallon. But there's a catch: the customer must use a Kroger-sponsored MasterCard at the pump and only after monthly purchases at the store exceed $100, according to the report.

The current discount is 10 cents per gallon after customers buy $100 worth of food each month. No Kroger MasterCard is required to get that deal.

Still, with Cincinnati’s gasoline prices averaging about $2.35 a gallon, the company hopes to attract motorists and make gains in its credit-card business, reported The Enquirer .

"We believe, based on the huge popularity of the 10-cent discount, that this even-bigger discount will be even better received by our customers," Gary Rhodes, spokesman for Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., told The Enquirer .

The 1-2-3 Rewards MasterCard has a variable interest rate starting at 11.24 percent after a zero percent interest rate expires after 12 billing cycles.

Putting fuel centers outside groceries has paid off for Kroger, one retail analyst told The Enquirer .

"Kroger does what they do very well," Candace Corlett, principal at WSL Strategic Retail, a retail-consulting firm in New York, said in the report. "For most loyal Kroger shoppers, they put a high level of trust in the strong retail brand name. They do not consider this private-label gas. It's brand-name gasoline."

Rhodes told The Enquirer that the new discount through the MasterCard expires at the end of November and is limited to 32 gallons per fill-up.

The $100 tab also excludes expenses related to taxes, office services, alcohol, tobacco, fuel, pharmacy and any purchases prohibited by law, according to the report.


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