This is a retail promo that uses technology, social platforms, direct-response tactics, and great prices to attract more people to the supermarket, to increase traffic and sales.

The closer a product gets to expiring, the fastest supermarkets need to sell them. So they drop the prices. But if there aren’t enough people in the store to see it, products end-up stuck on the shelf. A waste, not only for the business, but for consumers and society. Supeco, Carrefour’s low-cost supermarket chain, saw in the waste problem an opportunity to create a win-win, one-to-one promo.

To promote products with a short lifespan... Supeco used a format with a short lifespan: sponsored ads in The Instagram Stories. The ephemeral media space that lives 24 hours only. The products about to expire got their own media space and offer, impacting the right people in the right place. Using geolocation, the discounts were shown in a 2km radius from each store, reaching and attracting those nearby. The offers lasted the same as the stories... 24 hours only.

Every day, Supeco, Carrefour’s low-cost supermarket chain, deals with the issue of merchandise expiring and impending waste problem. But when each branch has different products about to expire, we need to look at each of them individually. So we chose a medium that allows us to reach the right people in the right place: Instagram Stories. First, we used Instagram’s geolocation to target Supeco’s neighbors in a 2km radius, most of which probably regular clients. Once the supermarket’s products were about to expire, its prices dropped significantly. We then sold the products with a short lifespan in a format with a short lifespan, 24 Hours only. A call to action finally urged Instagram users to download our digital discount flyer and go the Supeco in the neighborhood. The sense of urgency and the and geo-targeted media were fundamental elements to generate more traffic and conversion in the stores.

Supermarket retail communication is hard-selling by nature. But to sell products about to expire faster and more effectively in Madrid, Supeco needed more than just sell hard: it had to sell smart. And by choosing Instagram as a partner, they did just that. The specifics of the media plan included reaching only people in a 2Km radius of each store and only during each store’s opening hours. Every day, the price of a different product dropped significantly. And for that day only, a new offer and a digital discount flyer were available, urging people to take action. That matched perfectly its media’s short-lived format that lasts just 24h: the Insta-stories.

In the very first promo:

252849 Impressions

202238 people reached

Some records in sales:

- 1 chicken per minute

- 250 strawberries boxes sold in 4 hours