Grocery giant Kroger announced the launch of the Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard. The new co-branded credit card was built with the fintech company Imprint and Mastercard.
The card is designed to offer shoppers points at a rate of 5X their purchases, according to Kroger. Those purchases can be made through Kroger.com and the Kroger app.
In addition, the card fits within Kroger’s existing loyalty ecosystem. There, it will offer tiered rewards for fuel, in-store purchases, dining, and travel, plus a $100 welcome bonus.
Kroger’s leadership highlighted the company’s central ambitions when announcing the card.
Why Kroger is using the new Mastercard
“At Kroger, we’re always looking for new ways to help customers save,” said Megan Shaffer, group vice president of customer growth and strategy at Kroger. “From weekly grocery trips to filling up at the pump or paying bills, the Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard turns purchases into real savings. It is one more way we’re rewarding customers for the shopping they’re already doing.”
Imprint, the fintech platform powering the card’s technology, echoed the card’s diverse use.
“Kroger is one of America’s most trusted brands, with customer relationships built over decades of everyday shopping,” said Daragh Murphy, co-founder and CEO of Imprint. “Together, we set out to turn that loyalty into a card customers reach for every day, one that rewards the weekly Kroger trip and everything in between, with the modern, seamless experience they expect.”
Kroger ranks No. 7 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database. The database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales. Kroger is also No. 1 in the database’s Food & Beverage category. It also competes with Mass Merchants — Walmart and Target — that rank higher in the Top 2000 for online grocery sales.
The new card’s role for Kroger
Kiki Del Valle, executive vice president in charge of U.S. market development at Mastercard, expects the card to help remove friction from the buying process.
“Grocery spending is one of the most consistent and essential parts of life,” she assessed. “Together with Kroger and Imprint, we’ve created a seamless rewards experience that helps shoppers earn more on the purchases they already make, turning regular grocery trips into meaningful savings.”
Serhii Nikolaichuk, founder and CEO of The Capital Index, a technology development studio based in Austin, Texas, sees the card providing additional value to Kroger.
“This isn’t a credit card,” Nikolaichuk said. “It’s a delivery app with a bank attached.”
Nikolaichuk noted the richest point tiers are reserved for Kroger.com and app purchases up to 5X. That compares with up to 3X in-store. Combined with a free Boost delivery membership built into the Kroger app, the total offerings send a clear signal.
“Kroger is paying shoppers to move from the aisle to the screen, where it can see every basket and plan the next one.”
That shift is also the real story behind the fintech partnership, he said. With Imprint running the card and a bank issuing it behind the scenes, Kroger, not a big bank, owns the relationship. It will also control the data and the customer experience. The bank becomes plumbing. Amazon and Target already proved to grocers that the card can function as the loyalty program; now, Nikolaichuk said, that card lives inside the grocer’s own app.
“The bigger reason is coming next: AI shopping assistants,” Nikolaichuk said. “When an assistant builds the weekly cart, it will pay with whatever card is already on file, and it will follow the points.”
The grocer that owns the app, the card and the data owns the default, he said. In his view, the real prize is not the next swipe, but the next year of automatic reorders.
Kroger’s grocery competition
As for how Kroger’s approach stacks up against the approaches of its competitors, Nikolaichuk said Amazon and Target have trained shoppers to expect roughly 5% back. In that context, Kroger’s 5X sounds comparable on its face. But the points, Nikolaichuk says, are only as good as what they buy — fuel and groceries inside Kroger’s own ecosystem. For a loyal Kroger household that already fills up at Kroger gas stations, he said, that can beat a general cash-back card. However, for anyone who shops around, simple cash back may remain more straightforward.
“Kroger isn’t buying loyalty at the checkout,” he added. “It’s buying the default for the day an AI agent does the shopping.”
Still, Francesco Onorato, director of growth at Brandmovers, a loyalty and promotions marketing company, noted that Kroger is making a smart move by connecting its new store credit card with its loyalty program. He sees a key question in whether or not that will be enough in today’s competitive grocery and retail market.
“What’s interesting is that Kroger is focusing high-value incentives on orders made through the app and including free delivery as part of the offer,” Onorato posited. “This strategy uses payments as a means of guiding shoppers out of the aisles and into the digital channels. A reliable, engaging and personalized online shopping experience is going to be the true test of how their bet will pay off.”
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