How to Get Repeat Customers at Your Grocery Store

Repeat customers at a grocery store are shoppers who consistently choose your store over competitors for their regular shopping. They're worth focusing on because acquiring a new customer costs roughly five times more than keeping an existing one—and in grocery, where margins are tight, that maths matters.

If you're running an independent grocery store, convenience store, or neighbourhood food shop, you're competing against supermarket chains with bigger budgets and longer hours. You won't win on price. You can win on relationship.

Here's how to turn one-time shoppers into regulars who choose you every week.

Why Repeat Customers Matter More for Grocery Than Almost Any Other Business

Direct answer: Grocery shopping is habitual. Once someone makes your store part of their weekly routine, they'll return dozens of times per year—each visit compounding into significant lifetime value that far exceeds any single transaction.

Let's do some quick maths.

Average grocery basket: £25–40 Shopping frequency: Weekly or bi-weekly Annual value of one regular customer: £1,300–2,000

Now compare that to the one-off customer who pops in for milk and never returns. That's a £3 transaction versus £1,500+ over a year.

The compounding effect is real:

• Regulars spend more per visit (they trust your recommendations)

• Regulars tell neighbours (word-of-mouth in local retail is powerful)

• Regulars forgive occasional stockouts (they're invested in you succeeding)

Independent grocery stores that focus on repeat business outperform those chasing foot traffic. Every time.

Start With Service That Supermarkets Can't Match

Direct answer: Personalised service—knowing customers by name, remembering their preferences, offering genuine recommendations—creates emotional switching costs that price alone can't overcome.

You have something Tesco doesn't: the ability to actually know your customers.

This looks like:

• Greeting Mrs. Patterson by name and asking how her daughter's wedding went

• Setting aside the last sourdough loaf because you know David comes in every Saturday morning

• Texting a customer when their favourite cheese is back in stock

• Remembering that the family on Elm Street is vegetarian and flagging new meat-free products

Scenario: It's 6pm on a Wednesday. Sarah's exhausted after work and needs ingredients for dinner. She could go to the Sainsbury's Local three minutes closer, but she walks the extra distance to your shop because last week you recommended a brilliant shortcut recipe and she wants to see what you suggest this time.

That's not just service. That's a relationship.

Practical steps:

• Train staff to learn and use customer names

• Keep a simple notebook (or digital note) of regular customers' preferences

• Empower staff to make small gestures without asking permission (rounding down, adding a freebie)

Implement a Digital Loyalty Program That Actually Gets Used

Direct answer: A digital loyalty card stored in customers' Apple Wallet or Google Wallet removes the friction of physical cards, keeps your store visible on their phone, and lets you send targeted offers directly—turning occasional shoppers into committed regulars.

Here's the reality of physical loyalty cards in grocery:

• Customers forget them at home

• They get lost in wallets or kitchen drawers

• Staff forget to ask about them

• Nobody tracks the data properly

Digital solves all of this.

With a platform like Perkstar, your loyalty card lives in customers' phones—right alongside their payment cards in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. They can't forget it. They see your branding every time they open their wallet.

Why this works for grocery stores specifically:

A realistic grocery loyalty structure:

• Spend £20+ = 1 digital stamp

• Collect 10 stamps = £10 off your next shop

• Or: Earn 1 point per £1 spent, redeem 100 points for £5 off

The automation advantage:

Perkstar lets you set up automated messages that run without you thinking about them:

• Welcome message when someone joins

• Reminder if they haven't visited in 3 weeks

• Birthday reward automatically sent

• "You're close" nudge when they're 1 stamp away

This is set-and-forget retention. While you're serving customers, the system is bringing lapsed shoppers back.

Cost reality:

• Custom app development: £15,000–50,000+

• Physical card printing and management: Ongoing headache

• Perkstar: From £12/month, live in an afternoon

Use Push Notifications Strategically (Not Annoyingly)

Direct answer: Push notifications sent to customers' phones via their digital loyalty card have open rates 5–10x higher than email. Used sparingly and relevantly, they're the most effective way to drive repeat visits without advertising spend.

This is where digital loyalty earns its keep for grocery stores.

Good push notification examples:

• "Fresh bread just out of the oven—here until 6pm" (sent at 3pm)

• "Your favourite Italian salami is back in stock"

• "You're 2 stamps away from £10 off—pop in this week?"

• "Bank holiday hours: Open 8am–4pm Monday"

Bad push notification examples:

• Daily "come visit us" messages (annoying)

• Generic "10% off everything" blasts (trains customers to wait for discounts)

• Irrelevant product announcements (shows you don't know them)

The rule: Send notifications you'd genuinely want to receive. If it's useful information or a genuine benefit, send it. If it's just noise hoping something sticks, don't.

Scenario: It's Thursday afternoon. You've just received a delivery of local strawberries—beautiful, but they need to sell fast. You send a push notification to your loyalty members: "Local strawberries just arrived—won't last the weekend." Twenty of them come in before closing. No advertising cost. No social media algorithm to fight. Direct to their phones.

Modern Take: Why "Community" Beats "Convenience" for Independents

Direct answer: Independent grocery stores can't compete with supermarkets on price or convenience. But they can win on community connection—becoming a neighbourhood fixture that customers feel good supporting, not just a place to buy food.

Here's my slightly controversial view: most advice for independent grocery stores focuses on the wrong things.

"Extend your hours." "Match supermarket prices." "Offer delivery."

You can try. But you're playing their game with fewer resources. You'll exhaust yourself and still lose.

The better strategy: Stop competing on convenience. Compete on connection.

What this looks like in practice:

Local sourcing as identity, not just inventory Don't just stock local products—tell their stories. "This honey is from Dave's hives, 3 miles away. He's been keeping bees for 40 years." Customers can buy honey anywhere. They can only buy Dave's honey from you.

The shop as community hub

• Notice board for local events and services

• Recommendations for local tradespeople

• Knowing what's happening in the neighbourhood

Staff who actually live locally Your weekend teenager who knows half the customers from school creates connections that a supermarket's rotating shift workers never will.

Supporting local causes visibly Sponsor the under-10s football team. Donate to the food bank openly. Be part of the neighbourhood, not just in it.

Why this drives repeat business: People shop at supermarkets out of habit and convenience. They shop at their local independent out of choice and identity. When you become part of how someone sees their neighbourhood—and themselves—they don't price-compare. They just come.

Your loyalty program reinforces this: When your digital loyalty card sits in customers' wallets, it's a small daily reminder that they're "someone who shops local." That identity stickiness is worth more than any discount.

Practical Tactics That Actually Move the Needle

Direct answer: Beyond service and loyalty programs, independent grocery stores can drive repeat business through consistent hours, strategic promotions, local partnerships, and smart use of social media—all reinforcing the relationship, not just chasing transactions.

Keep Your Hours Consistent and Visible

Sounds basic. Gets overlooked constantly.

The problem: Customer drives to your shop at 5:45pm. It's closed. Google says you close at 6pm. They go to Tesco instead. They might not come back.

The fix:

• Update Google Business Profile immediately when hours change

• Post holiday hours on social media AND on your door a week ahead

• If you close early, consider why—and whether the lost trust is worth it

Run Promotions That Build Habits, Not Just Sales

Avoid: "20% off everything this weekend" (attracts bargain hunters, not regulars)

Better: "Double stamps every Tuesday" (creates a weekly habit)

Best: "Spend £30, get a free coffee from the café next door" (partners with neighbours, encourages basket size)

Seasonal plays that work:

• Christmas: Pre-order premium items for collection (locks in spend)

• Easter: Chocolate bundles exclusive to loyalty members

• Summer: BBQ boxes at a set price

• Back to school: Lunchbox staples bundle

Partner With Neighbouring Businesses

The concept: Cross-promotion that benefits everyone.

Examples:

• Partner with the butcher: "Spend £20+ at either shop, get stamps at both"

• Partner with the café: "Show your grocery receipt, get 50p off coffee"

• Partner with the florist: "Buy flowers, get 10% off dinner ingredients"

This isn't complicated to set up. A conversation and a handshake. Both businesses get exposure to each other's customers.

Use Social Media for Inventory, Not Just Marketing

Most effective posts for grocery stores:

• "Just arrived: [product photo]"

• "Last few [popular item]—won't restock until next week"

• "New local supplier—here's their story"

• Customer photos (with permission) showing their purchases

Less effective:

• Generic "shop local" messaging

• Stock photos

• Posts that could come from any grocery store anywhere

Quick Wins You Can Implement This Week

Today:

• [ ] Google your store. Is the information correct? Update if not.

• [ ] Greet the next 10 customers by name if you know it.

This week:

• [ ] Set up a Perkstar account (14-day free trial, no card required)

• [ ] Design your digital loyalty card with your branding

• [ ] Create counter signage with your QR code for signup

This month:

• [ ] Train all staff on the loyalty program and how to mention it

• [ ] Set up automated messages (welcome, lapsed customer, birthday)

• [ ] Identify one local business to approach about cross-promotion

Ongoing:

• [ ] Send one push notification per week maximum (quality over quantity)

• [ ] Review loyalty data monthly—who's coming, who's lapsed?

• [ ] Adjust rewards based on what actually drives behaviour

Measuring What Matters

Track these metrics:

Don't obsess over:

• Total foot traffic (vanity metric if they're not returning)

• Social media followers (meaningless if they don't shop)

• Discount redemption rates (can indicate price sensitivity, not loyalty)

The Long Game

Building repeat customers at a grocery store isn't about any single tactic. It's about consistently making your shop the obvious choice.

That means:

• Service that feels personal, not transactional

• A loyalty program that rewards their habit and keeps you top-of-mind

• Communication that respects their attention

• A sense that shopping with you is shopping local, supporting community, making a choice—not just buying groceries

The supermarkets will always have more products, longer hours, and lower prices on loss leaders. Let them.

You have something they don't: the ability to actually know your customers and build something that matters to your neighbourhood.

Your digital loyalty card, sitting in their Apple Wallet, is a small daily reminder of that relationship. Every notification is a direct line they've chosen to keep open. Every stamp is progress toward a reward they'll remember.

That's how you build repeat business that lasts.

Ready to turn occasional shoppers into weekly regulars? Start your free 14-day Perkstar trial—no credit card required. Set up your digital loyalty card, print a QR code for your counter, and start building the customer relationships that supermarkets can't touch.

Start Your Free Trial →