Until recently, shoppers who relied on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to augment their grocery budgets had to go inside the store to complete their online orders. But new technology makes it possible to redeem SNAP benefits on approved eCommerce sites, and that can increase sales for retailers.
Redner’s Markets, a 64-store retail food chain serving communities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware since 1970, participated in a pilot program to add SNAP as a tender option for online orders.
The company, which uses ECRS’ eCommerce solution, CATAPULT®WebCart™ , recently enabled accepting SNAP as an online payment method that allows shoppers to use SNAP benefits at one of the 38 Redner’s Markets locations that offers online shopping.
“The intent for participating was to get our curbside offering to all of our customers,” says Ryen Livingston, WebCart Specialist at Redner’s Markets. “Every shopper has a different reason for choosing a payment method, pickup type, etc. By adding SNAP, we can be sure all options are available to all our customers to facilitate their ideal experience.”
The SNAP Payment Difference
Redner’s Markets has been an ECRS client since 2019, and it has used CATAPULT WebCart for its eCommerce transactions since early 2022 as a way to keep up with growing demand for online shopping.
As a regional, 100% employee-owned grocery store chain, Redner’s Markets prides itself on operating community-focused stores that understand their customers and look for ways to meet their unique needs. Their goal is to offer fresh products, low prices, and a no-nonsense approach to buying groceries. That includes making SNAP benefits available for online purchases.
“Every shopper has a different reason for choosing a payment method, pickup type, etc. By adding SNAP, we can be sure all options are available to all of our customers to facilitate their ideal experience.”
Ryen Livingston, Redner’s Markets
Redner’s Markets isn’t the only retailer that recognizes the importance of responding to the needs of low-income shoppers. In response to industry demands, ECRS pursued development efforts to enable the acceptance of SNAP as an optional eCommerce payment option for all retailers using CATAPULT Retail POS.
“We wanted to provide greater access to healthy food for people who might struggle, and we wanted our retailers to be places where diverse tenders are accepted with ease,” says Jill Nicklaw, Web Transactions Business Unit Manager at ECRS. “In addition, as a company that supports large chains as well as single-store, independent retailers, we take seriously the competitive market in which they exist, and we want to offer our retailers every advantage available.”
The SNAP capability, which is a default function of the CATAPULT WebCart platform, is available to all ECRS retailers. It goes hand-in-hand with ECRS’ industry-first patent-pending EBT balance management tool, SNAP While You ShopTM, which gives in-store shoppers a real-time estimate of their SNAP balance for eligible items.
So far, the results have been impressive. Redner’s Markets launched its pilot test at the end of July 2023. By November, it saw a 6.55% increase in total online sales vs. same-month sales a year ago. The number of registered online shoppers also increased.
Perhaps most impressive is the fact that the retailer achieved those results with no additional costs and without any promotion. They simply ‘turned on’ SNAP functionality within CATAPULT WebCart, and the solution did the rest of the work.
Removing Barriers for Low-Income Shoppers
SNAP payment acceptance on CATAPULT WebCart and ECRS’ product support, which extends to helping retailers navigate some of the necessary government approvals, remove some of the hurdles businesses face when offering SNAP benefits for online purchase. CATAPULT WebCart is also equipped to recognize Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as a supplemental benefit option.
“Every retailer wants to be community focused, but if you don’t offer the ability to use SNAP benefits online, it can exclude customers,” says Nicklaw. “Our ability to accept SNAP payments on CATAPULT WebCart lets retailers help low-income individuals and families in their community to purchase nutritious food by offering a seamless payment solution at checkout.”
