What the Supermarkets Don't Know...

I've noticed a lot of cloth bags being sold in supermarkets, which is a nice environmental trend. Hopefully it can cut down on the amount of paper or plastic bags being used. Usually I see the branded cloth bags being sold for a dollar each. That likely makes it a pretty high profit item for the stores.

Think about it: The bags probably cost a few pennies to produce and take up very little space. They're not all that big so it's likely that a family would end up buying several of them.

This got me to thinking whether the cloth bags are being marketed properly. Should a store make a customer pay a buck to walk around with a bag featuring its logo? Perhaps the supermarkets could require consumers to do something in order to get one of the bags for free. Every time you spend $50, you get a bag. It could build store loyalty, give people a reason to go above a pre-selected price point, and perhaps get some people to start using the cloth bags who otherwise wouldn't have paid for them.

What's in it for the stores to change their business model? Besides the environmental reasons, the more cloth bags that are given away (while supplies last), the less paper and plastic ones the store has to purchase, ship, and store. The grocery store also gets some free advertising and perhaps some increased brand loyalty. Would I shop at Albertsons if my cloth bags says, Publix?