User:BrianLbs

Aisle50 is a consumer goods discount company that offers discounts through a mobile and web-based application. They provide one time offers as well as subscriptions for deals that repeat monthly.

Aisle50 was started in 2010 by co-founders Christopher Steiner and Riley Scott. The company was part of Y Combinator's summer 2011 class. Aisle50 differs from the traditional coupon method by allowing users to pre-pay on the discounted goods and receive the discount at the register. This is a noted difference from new discount applications such as Ibotta and Checkout 51, which reward consumers after their purchase at the store. They have also pivoted to focus on a subscription based service, creating offers that are likely to be used on a continuous monthly basis. They have live offers with many retailers, notable ones include: Shop 'n Save (Pittsburgh), D'Agostino Supermarkets, and Homeland (supermarket)

Aisle50 serves as a multi sided platform for consumers to connect with retailers and CPG companies, allowing CPG companies to push their goods, retailers to increase trips to the store, and consumers to save on goods. The business model is similar to Groupon in that the retailers do not pay any fees or costs in order to offer the discounts at their chains. Aisle50 instead purchases goods directly from the CPG companies and creates the offers based on these. Consumers then purchase the discounted offer from Aisle50, and it is loaded directly onto their respective retailer's loyalty card, as long as that retailer is partnered with Aisle50. If it is a subscription offer, the offer is repeated monthly, and automatically loaded onto the consumer's loyalty card. The consumer can then acquire their purchases at the retailer, and will be fully discounted at the register for those pre-purchased offers. Consumers are pre-paying Aisle50 in order to gain benefits such as locking in to the discount (for subscriptions), and experiencing a quicker and easier checkout. For the retailers and CPG companies it is an increase in seller power in the form of loyalty card based coupons and subscriptions.

Subscriptions

One of the most unique parts of Aisle50's business model is the subscription model. A subscription works the same as any one-time offer only that it repeats over a set time period varying from monthly to 6 weeks or bi-monthly. Aisle50's subscription model is unique to the grocery industry, where subscriptions have seldom been seen before. This has multiple benefits to the business model. The consumer gains ease of access to their offers through the system automatically loading their offers monthly. They are also able to lock in to a fixed discount rate, therefore being able to repeat savings. The retailer gains increased trips to the store, by creating monthly return trips for customers. The CPG gains increased revenue through continuous monthly purchases.