After announcing that REWE will be the first large retailer to discontinue its offers flyer by summer 2023, the group is taking the next logical step in the digitisation of its special offers. Now anyone can receive their preferred REWE store’s offers flyer conveniently on their mobile, every Sunday via WhatsApp. The service enjoys great popularity and high usage rates across all targets groups in Germany, making it a useful tool for customer communications and sending offer information. Before the nationwide launch, REWE’s trials had shown that a digital flyer on WhatsApp generated significant customer interest. The sign-up rates for the service itself, the opening rates, and the length of time spent reading it proved this was the case.
“REWE has been committed to sustainability in its corporate strategy for years and has gradually been transforming processes and products successfully with this goal in mind. Digitisation is the primary way of achieving this aim, particularly where this offers added value to the customer. With Meta and WhatsApp, we have another effective channel for providing local offers and relevant information to our customers in an easily accessible way,” says Bastian Tassew, Head of CRM & Owned Media at REWE.
Subscribing to the digital flyer is straightforward: Simply visit rewe.de/whatsapp and follow the instructions. This ensures that the customer first has to sign up to the WhatsApp service before using a postcode or location to find their preferred store and subscribe to offers. To end the weekly subscription service, customers simply need to reply with the message ‘Stop’. The service is provided via Meta’s official business partner, 360dialog.
Claudia Studtmann, Meta Head of Retail for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, says: “We are delighted that our partner REWE is the first food retailer in Germany to use WhatsApp Business Solutions to digitise its printed flyer and reach new and existing customers via their preferred communication channels.”
REWE had recently announced that it would discontinue the printing and distribution of its offers flyers on 1 July 2023. However, it also expressed its intention to use new and familiar media channels to significantly expand its product promotion activity. The changeover will have a huge impact on the environment, climate, and the sustainable use of resources, saving more than 73,000 tonnes of paper, 70,000 tonnes of CO2, 1.1 million tonnes of water, and 380 million kWh of energy per year. These energy savings are particularly significant now in light of the current debate surrounding future energy security in Germany. In the future, REWE’s 200-plus weekly special offers will continue to be available; the only change is that they will no longer be printed. Instead, they will be sent in an environmentally friendly format such as the REWE app’s digital channels or via WhatsApp.
