Consumer advocate seeks offline availability for digital-only supermarket promotions

A leading consumer advocate is calling on supermarket chains to make their “digital-only” promotions available to shoppers who cannot access them online.

According to a Supermarket News report, Edgar Dworsky, founder of Consumer World and a former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, stated that excluding those without online access ”“ overwhelmingly, the elderly and lower-income households ”“ creates a situation where those in most need of savings are prevented from being able to access those discounts.

“It”™s digital discrimination, and the most vulnerable people are being shut-out of these online discounts at the worst possible time given record high inflation,” said Dworsky. “Big supermarkets need to provide an offline alternative to the digitally disconnected so they can reap the same savings that connected shoppers enjoy.”

Dworsky cited 2021 data from the Pew Research Center that found 39% of consumers ages 65 and older do not own a smartphone and 25% don”™t use the Internet. And having online access did not necessarily mean the promotions could be enjoyed ”“ Consumer World conducted a survey of 950 shoppers and found that nearly one-third could not correctly explain how to obtain an advertised digital discount.