How Dollar General’s Pivot Strategy Became Integral to the Customer Experience - Retail Innovation Conference & Expo

How Dollar General’s Pivot Strategy Became Integral to the Customer Experience

Since the beginning of the Brand Experience Awards, we’ve made the strategic decision to make “Most Effective Pivot Strategy” a key nomination category. What industry focuses more on pivoting than retail, right? Moreover, the awards started during the peak of COVID-19 lockdowns, and retailers of all sizes were focused on adapting their businesses and customer experiences.  

Dollar General is one retailer that was lauded for its “pivot strategy” during our 2022 awards. Since then, the retailer has turned this pivot into a long-term, profitable strategy for customer experience. Erin Dziengel, Dollar General’s Director of IT Business Integration & Strategy, will be sharing detailed insights and learnings from this journey during the 2023 Retail Innovation Conference & Expo. But for now, here’s the scoop on why DG was considered a top winner for our 2022 Brand Experience Awards:  

The mission: Dollar General wanted to fully realize its mission of Serving Others amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The health and safety of employees, customers and local communities were a top priority, but the retailer wanted to continue to offer products in a seamless and cost-effective way.  
 
The initiatives: At the onset of the pandemic, Dollar General worked to enhance customers’ shopping experiences by adding services that could expedite a shopping trip, including: 

  • DG Pickup: Customers may shop from their smartphone or computer and receive a notification when their order is ready. Once at the store, customers can grab their order from the in-store DG Pickup shelves and be on their way. DG Pickup also allows customers to take full advantage of the DG Digital Coupons for instant savings.  
     
  • Self-Checkout: Dollar General’s self-checkout option offers contactless shopping experiences when consumers feel like getting in and out of the store. Due to the success of initial rollouts, the company announced plans to expand self-checkout to about 11,000 stores by the end of 2022.  
     
  • DG GO!: With DG GO!, customers can scan items on their smartphones while in stores and use a Cart Calculator function that applies available discounts and savings. Customers can “check out” on the DG mobile app with a credit or debit card. To check out, customers simply scan their barcode at the self-service kiosk, bag their items and go. 
  • DoorDash partnership: Dollar General launched a partnership with DoorDash that allowed consumers to have on-demand access to household essential items including food, snacks, cleaning supplies and more at everyday low prices. This offering has garnered extremely positive feedback and, as a result, the retailer plans to expand this partnership moving forward.  

The results: Like many retailers, Dollar General is doubling down on convenience in order to build trust and loyalty. If you want to learn more about the results the retailer has seen and how its investing in tech to support customer journeys, join us for our 2023 event! We’re in the midst of Cyber Week, so take advantage of our special pricing while you can!  
 
(Oh, and if you’re looking for more inspiration, be sure to check out the other 2022 winners. If your brand has leveled up experiences across all channels, you also can submit a nomination for our 2023 awards. We hope to see the awesome projects, campaigns and activations you’ve been working on.)  

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