Ryan Draude has spent nearly 15 years building nationally-recognized loyalty programs at brands like Choice Hotels, RITE AID, and now Giant Food — where he currently serves as the head of loyalty.
But as cross-shopping, value-seeking behavior becomes the norm, earning loyalty from grocery shoppers is getting harder every day. We spoke with Ryan about how shoppers are changing and the different strategies Giant is pursuing to “win the week” repeatedly.
Q: From your vantage point, how has grocery shopping behavior changed over the past year?
While it’s always been important, value is especially top-of-mind at the moment. The impact of inflation, job insecurity, and other factors has shoppers particularly mindful of stretching their dollars. It is not uncommon to see shoppers spread trips across more retailers to get the maximum bang for their buck.
When they do that, basket sizes at each individual store get smaller, and trips become more intentional. Part of the reason for this value-seeking, cross-shopping behavior is that customers have more options today than ever before. In our market, greater Washington, D.C., most shoppers on average have nearly 13 retailers within a three-mile radius! All of this means that retailers can’t assume presence equals preference. Loyalty is up for grabs, and every trip is a unique decision.
Q: Many retailers feel like loyalty programs should be solving this problem. What are you seeing?
Loyalty programs are meant to build long-term relationships between retailers and customers. I do believe they work toward two key goals: incrementality and retention of sales. Otherwise, the cost model involved is not validated. Beneath the surface, there are important truths about the loyalty space we should acknowledge.
Most grocers have their own loyalty program. In that way, just having your own loyalty program is table stakes in grocery. But, having a program neither guarantees loyalty or validates the costs involved. The attractiveness of benefits, accessibility, and awareness of the value all play a big part in success — or failure.
Loyalty points are a currency, and running a program is like running a small bank. The balance is in creating a program structure that is easy to understand, relatively quick to begin earning value, and one that grows to accommodate the behaviors of light to heavy spenders at appropriate value transfer points.
So, getting back to the question, I do believe that loyalty programs can lessen the impact of the problem — affordability — by ensuring that every dollar a customer spends ties back to potential rewards. And, these programs can be differentiators for grocery retailers who may not be known for having the lowest retail prices. This can help the grocer compete in that value lens. Consider most large airlines. They may not be known for being cheap, but the value of their rewards can attract and retain customers who see the rewards as a powerful motivator to keep their business.
Q: With price sensitivity so high, how are you thinking about value without racing to the bottom on price?
It can be stressful to consider the costs of putting food on the table for any individual or family. From the shopper’s perspective, there are so many ways to shop savvy, using all the deals and tools available. I’m seeing more and more consumers using tools like circulars, loyalty apps, and third-party marketplaces to maximize value on each trip.
For retailers, it’s important to remember that value is defined by what feels worth the spend. For shoppers, value isn’t just the lowest price. It’s quality, convenience (and time savings), and relevance.
Broad price cuts can erode margin without guaranteeing loyalty, so I don’t see that as an effective business strategy today. But there are ways to provide meaningful savings to the right shopper at the right moment: situational, personalized value. Personalization resonates with customers because it feels fair and relevant to them. Meanwhile, it’s a sustainable growth strategy for the business. This is where grocers can win.
[RELATED: Giant Food, Upside Aim To Drive Incremental Sales Through Cash-Back Offers]
Q: Can you share how this thinking will influence Giant’s approach this year?
Our mission is to be the most trusted and loved grocery retailer to every customer we serve. And that breaks down into a few areas. First is trust, where customers know they can find quality products at prices that are fair. Second is love, in that we connect through service and benefits including our loyalty program Flexible Rewards, but also service extensions with pharmacies and nutritionists as well. We are a local company, coming up on 90 years in February 2026! Our employees and customers are neighbors and part of the same community.
Taking care of our customers means unlocking any path to achieve these goals. And one big success I’ve been very proud of is the recent partnership created with Upside late last year. Upside is a growing community of cash-back offers across multiple retail offerings, including fuel, restaurants, and grocery. Giant has the privilege of being Upside’s premiere grocery option in our region, meaning customers using their platform will always have a cash-back offer every time they shop with Giant. The personalized promotions in Upside’s marketplace help us identify each shopper’s unique value point and motivate them to choose Giant over competitors. We’re reaching value-focused, cross-shopping consumers outside our owned channels and influencing them at the moment they’re deciding where to shop, without unnecessarily sacrificing profit.
Q: What have you learned so far from working with Upside?
Partnering with Upside has reinforced for us how important it is to show up at the moment a shopper is deciding where to go, not just once they’re already in our ecosystem. Many of the customers we’re trying to influence are actively comparing options across multiple retailers, and you can’t assume your owned channels are part of that decision every time.
Working with Upside has helped us reach those value-focused, cross-shopping consumers in a way that is relevant to them and profitable for us. We’re able to focus on specific trips and measure whether we’re driving truly incremental visits and spend, rather than simply rewarding behavior that would have happened anyway. We are also particularly interested in reaching not only today’s shopper, but the growing presence of Millennials and Generation Z communities, who gravitate toward savings offerings in frameworks like Upside offers.
That emphasis on relevance and incrementality has shaped how we think about partnerships overall. In a low-margin category like grocery, solutions need to influence behavior in a measurable way, and that’s the lens we’ll continue to apply as we think about growth in 2026 and beyond.
Q: What advice would you give grocery executives trying to grow in an increasingly fragmented market?
I think grocers can do a few things to stand out in this value-focused era in the effort to win the trip each week.
Table-stakes is understanding what they do and what they think. Constant pulse checks on segment impacts regarding each category help to understand how you may still be winning the trip, but losing parts of the basket. Stretch, reward, and win back as appropriate based on behavior.
The think element ties to regular check-in with customer care and understanding pain points. OOS, service, faulty technology — all of these often do not show up in data but you will see them in comments and feedback. I try to call five customers each week to check in to see what I may have blind spots on. Their feedback has been critical to getting out in front of issues, and it makes their day to know someone cares enough to connect!
Finally, ensure that on every trip, customers have clear access to find and understand all the levers to save: coupons, rewards, digital benefits, and third-party savings through partners like Upside. If customers have the options in front of them, they can put together savings that are material in every trip and help you win the week.
About Ryan Draude
The current Head of Loyalty & Digital for Giant Food, Ryan Draude has invested his career in the evolution of long-term customer relationships made through the benefits of loyalty and retention programs.
With Giant, he’s responsible for fostering omnichannel customer relationships with shoppers in the Mid-Atlantic’s largest grocery chain. Giant is part of Ahold Delhaize, a global leader in grocery retail.
Ryan formerly led Choice Privileges, the multi-billion-dollar reward program for Choice Hotels, and over a five-year period overhauled the program via scrutiny of member data and respect to listen to what members wanted. The results catapulted the program to its first major Freddie Award and moved the program from #11 in the country to #2 in the US News & World Report’s Best Hotel Reward Program category.
His career includes Vice President and Director loyalty leadership positions with Rite Aid, Capital One, Citigroup and Switchfly. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and George Washington University, both in Washington, D.C., teaching Loyalty Strategy and Retail Marketing in undergraduate and graduate level programs.
In 2025, Ryan was inducted into Loyalty360’s Champions of Loyalty lifetime achievement group for professional and academic efforts to promote loyalty marketing in the industry.
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