Kroger lets shoppers redeem rewards points for grocery discounts

Kroger added grocery discounts to its rewards program on June 25, letting shoppers turn points into up to $10 off a grocery purchase each day. Members earn one point for every dollar spent on eligible purchases with a rewards card in stores or through pickup and delivery, and they can pick up bonus points on qualifying gift card purchases, eligible prescriptions and promotional events.

The move keeps Kroger’s fuel math in place too: 100 points still buy 10 cents off per gallon, up to $1 per gallon. Kroger’s points page says shoppers can redeem up to 1,000 points a day for grocery savings, and that points expire at the end of the month after they are earned. For a chain that serves about 63 million households annually and ties more than 95% of customer transactions to a loyalty card, the program is not a side benefit. It is part of how Kroger teaches shoppers what value looks like.

That is where Trader Joe’s takes a very different line. The company says it does not run sales, offer coupons, use loyalty programs or issue membership cards. Its FAQ is even blunter, saying there are no discounts or special promotions and no “glitzy promotions or couponing wars” in its stores. Trader Joe’s says more than 80% of what it sells is private label, a structure it says helps keep costs down, and its official podcast has described loyalty programs as “ever-so-slightly-disguised ways to collect data about your purchases.”

For Trader Joe’s crew, that contrast shapes the daily register conversation. A Kroger shopper may be asking about points, app offers and whether fuel savings or grocery discounts make more sense on a given trip. A Trader Joe’s shopper is more likely to ask why the price is the same for everyone, why there are no coupons, or how the chain can keep prices down without a rewards card. Consumer Reports has criticized Kroger’s loyalty model as a data-collection engine, saying more than 95% of transactions were driven onto the loyalty card and used to build shopper profiles.

The two chains are still growing on those different terms. Kroger reported fiscal 2025 sales of $147.6 billion and said it operated 2,697 supermarkets as of Jan. 31, 2026, including 2,250 with pharmacies and 1,731 with fuel centers. Trader Joe’s said it had 656 U.S. locations in late June and planned to open more than 20 stores in 2026, showing that its simpler promise still has plenty of room to expand.