{"id":36869,"date":"2018-06-06T14:53:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T14:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/06\/heres-how-your-commissary-plans-to-get-back-lost-customers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:15:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:15:57","slug":"heres-how-your-commissary-plans-to-get-back-lost-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/mil-money\/2018\/06\/06\/heres-how-your-commissary-plans-to-get-back-lost-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how your commissary plans to get back lost customers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Commissary officials are lowering prices on popular items, keeping some stores open longer and attacking the problem of poorly stocked shelves as part of an all-out effort to bring military customers<\/a> back into their stores for their discounted shopping benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re looking to regain their customers\u2019 trust as they try to turn around a 20 percent decline in sales over the last five years, said Robert Bianchi<\/a>, interim director of the Defense Commissary Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One change customers will notice right away: Bright orange \u201cYES!\u201d labels and signs that highlight reduced prices on about 100 types of items frequently bought by commissary shoppers. With different brands and sizes covered, that means deals on about 500 items such as baby food, pet food, bottled water, toilet tissue, nutritional shakes, potato chips and other snacks, flavored ice teas, pasta, macaroni and cheese, Spam, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, apple juice, coffee, energy drinks, soup, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, paper towels, dish soap and fabric softener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YES, short for Your Everyday Savings<\/a>, \u201chopefully … will tamp down some of that perception [commissary customers] may have about some of our pricing,\u201d Bianchi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Your Everyday Savings plan is part of the Defense Commissary Agency’s push to build back its customer base. (DeCA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the last year, commissary officials have been implementing a new pricing program that allows them to mark items up or down rather than sell them at cost (plus a 5 percent surcharge for overhead), as they did for decades. Some defense officials have sought for years to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars that go to commissary operations \u2015 about $1.3 billion a year \u2015 to provide the commissary benefit of discounted groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By law, the variable pricing can help defray those dollars as long as the system maintains an overall level of savings of 23.7 percent when compared with civilian grocers. That means officials can cut prices on YES items to compete with stores outside the gate, potentially bringing in customers who might otherwise head elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bianchi gave the example of customers who see individual items such as bananas priced higher in a commissary than a civilian store. That leaves the customer with an impression that the rest of the commissary prices are just as high, even though shopping there should, on average, save them 23.7 percent (depending on what\u2019s in their cart). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In customer surveys, many of the commissaries\u2019 lower ratings center around pricing, product availability and customer service, Bianchi said. He\u2019s attacking those issues in his interim capacity while maintaining his post as CEO of Navy Exchange Service Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\t