The Friday Checkout is a weekly column providing more insight on the news, rounding up the announcements you may have missed and sharing what’s to come.

The saying goes: If you can’t beat them, join ‘em. For traditional supermarkets looking to compete against the growing dominance of discounters and mass retailers for consumers’ grocery dollars, value is now key.

To communicate that value, grocers are rewarding loyal customers through revamped loyalty programs while also incentivizing them to buy higher-margin products like private label items. 

Giant Food, for example, recently updated its loyalty program to place more emphasis on private brands, giving customers double the points on items carrying the grocer’s house brands, such as bread, milk, bottled water, frozen vegetables and cheese.

Other grocers, including Big Y, Albertsons and Giant Eagle, have recently launched or retooled loyalty programs to help influence customer shopping habits. The program formats vary, but there’s a common focus on making it easier to collect rewards and on boosting rewards for a company’s most frequent shoppers. 

Because grocers can’t actually compete with Walmart, Aldi and dollar stores on price, loyalty programs and value messaging are their closest tools at hand. But will their updates resonate with consumers? 

Aldi, for one, has noticed the uptick in loyalty and membership programs — and it doesn’t seem impressed. A few weeks ago it put out a spoof press release touting an “Aldi+” membership. “We’re only kidding, unlike other retailers exclusive memberships aren’t an ALDI thing,” the company wrote.

In case you missed it

Aldi entering Tucson

The upcoming store, located at Tucson Marketplace at The Bridges near Park Avenue and Interstate 10, will mark the discounter's first location in the Arizona city, as reported by Tucson.com. The store will span approximately 20,000 square feet. It’s not clear when the location’s doors will officially open. 

This store will mark Aldi’s 13th in Arizona. The arrival in the new market is part of the discounter grocer’s plan, which was announced last month, to add 800 stores by the end of 2028. 

Earth Fare and GenoPalate debut meal kits

The specialty grocer and nutrition science company have introduced the second phase of their partnership — meal kits. This month, the meal kit line is tailored towards healthy weight and athletic performance with options such as Greek meatballs and almond-crusted salmon, according to an emailed announcement. The companies say that each meal can be prepared in less than 15 minutes using the microwave and oven. 

DoorDash welcomes 11 grocery banners to its marketplace

As of Tuesday, customers can shop for groceries from all of Wakefern Food Corp.’s banners, which include ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Fairway Market, Gourmet Garage and Dearborn Market, on DoorDash’s platform. The partnership adds more than 120,000 new grocery items available for delivery by DoorDash.  

DoorDash also announced Tuesday tie-ups with Vallarta Supermarkets, New Seasons Market, Haggen, Mother’s Market and Jimbo’s, totaling 103 stores.  

Number of the week: 579

That is the number of stores Kroger and Albertsons want to sell to C&S Wholesale Grocers as part of their updated divestiture deal. As part of that store count, C&S would acquire Albertsons’ Haggen banner in addition to the three other banners it was already in line to purchase as part of the original plan.

What’s ahead

Sprouts’ Q1 financial results

The specialty grocer is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings, which ended March 31, on Wednesday.

Latest jobs report

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release its latest employment report next Friday, giving new insight into the grocery industry workforce during the month of April

Impulse find

Shoppers get their jingle on

Are you loyal to your grocery store? Loyal enough to produce and perform a song? 

One TikTok creator named Jeremy Honig, who deems themselves “New England’s finest annoyance,” wrote, composed and posted an original Market Basket song. 

Comments on the video ask the creator if the song is available on Spotify, with others gushing about their own love of the Massachusetts grocery chain. And, if anyone didn’t appreciate the song, Honig made a response video defending the Market Basket lifestyle.

While the song is an original, this is not the first grocery jingle to garner the attention of dedicated shoppers. Trader Joe’s has had a few fans produce songs out of devotion for the chain, with some going as far as to receive national recognition. 

This story was originally published on Grocery Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Grocery Dive newsletter.