Giant Eagle

Review by eFreeware

If Giant Eagle is your regular grocery store, this app is built for the way you already shop there. It gathers the weekly deals, digital coupons and myPerks rewards into one place, then adds ordering for Curbside pickup or delivery on top. For a free app with no ads, that is a fair amount of ground covered.

What appeals to me most is the way the savings side and the shopping side meet. You can browse what is on sale, clip coupons, and add those same deals straight to your cart rather than juggling a paper list and a store circular. The developer's pitch is that you save time and money along the way, and the structure of the app broadly supports that idea.

It has been on Google Play since September 2019 and carries a 4.5 average from close to 14,000 ratings, with more than half a million installs. Those numbers suggest a settled, widely used app rather than a new experiment, which matters when the app is tied to your loyalty account and your grocery routine.

Coupons, weekly deals and the savings sections

The savings area is the busiest part of the app. It gathers the Weekly Ad, a Deals for Days section for low prices on popular items, and Everyday Savings for everyday low prices, plus digital coupons you clip so the discount comes off at checkout with your Loyalty Card. Having all of those in one screen is more useful than it sounds, because it means you can plan a shop around what is actually discounted that week.

The coupon mechanic is the one I would pay closest attention to. Clipping happens in the app, but the discount lands at checkout through your Loyalty Card, so the app and the card need to stay connected in your routine. If you already scan a loyalty card at the register, this is a small addition; if you do not, the savings side of the app has less to work with.

There is also an Exclusive To You Offers section for personalized savings, which sits alongside the general deals. Between the weekly ad, the coupon clipping and the personalized offers, the app gives a regular shopper several different ways to trim a grocery bill without much effort beyond checking in before a trip.

myPerks rewards, balances and gas savings

myPerks is the loyalty program at the center of the app, and the developer says members can earn free groceries and gas. The app lets you track your perks balance, see how much you would save by redeeming perks on groceries or gas, and review your myPerks savings history. That last part is the one I find most interesting, because it turns a vague points balance into a record of what the program has actually returned to you.

Your digital Loyalty Card lives in the app as well, ready to scan in store or online, so the card and the rewards balance travel together on your phone. Redeeming perks is presented with the savings shown up front, which takes some of the guesswork out of deciding when to spend a balance rather than let it sit.

The combination of coupons, weekly deals and myPerks means the app is doing three related jobs at once. None of them is complicated on its own, but together they cover most of the reasons a loyal customer would open a grocery app before leaving the house.

Lists, aisle numbers and online ordering

On the convenience side, the app shows the aisle number for items on your list, which is the feature I would expect to matter most during an actual store visit. It also lists products and product information for what is available at your neighborhood Giant Eagle, so you can check whether something is carried before you make the trip.

Ordering is handled in the same app. You can shop online, schedule a Curbside pickup or delivery slot, and add the deals you like directly to your cart. Reordering items you have bought before is supported too, which is the kind of shortcut that pays off on a recurring weekly shop rather than a one-off basket.

Checkout scanning covers both payment methods and the Loyalty Card, which the wallet keeps on hand. Taken together, the app tries to cover the whole trip: plan at home, order or shop in store, then pay and collect rewards without switching between tools.

What you need before the app pays off

Most of the value runs through the Loyalty Card. Coupons clipped in the app apply at checkout when that card is used, the digital version of the card is scannable in store or online, and myPerks balances and savings history are tied to the same account. Without that link, the savings features have little to act on.

Ordering is handled through the app, which schedules Curbside pickup or delivery slots. Product listings and aisle numbers are presented for your neighborhood Giant Eagle.

The app is free with no ads and no in-app purchases. The most recent update is a routine bug fixes and improvements release, which tells you the app is being maintained rather than rebuilt.

Who gets the most from it

This is an app for people who already shop at Giant Eagle regularly and want their coupons, weekly deals and rewards in one place. If you scan a Loyalty Card on most trips, the app folds neatly into that habit and gives you a reason to check it before you shop rather than after.

It also suits households that lean on Curbside pickup or delivery. Scheduling a slot, building a cart from the current deals and reordering the usual items is a coherent routine, and the aisle numbers are a bonus for the weeks you go in yourself.

Anyone who splits grocery shopping across several chains will find less here, because the savings and rewards are specific to one retailer's program. The app is at its best as a companion to a store you already visit often, not as a general-purpose shopping tool.

A worthwhile companion for regular Giant Eagle shoppers

For a free app, that is a sensible bundle, and the 4.5 average from a large body of ratings suggests it holds up for the people using it.

The trade-off is that its usefulness tracks your relationship with the store. Coupons need the Loyalty Card at checkout, and the rewards only matter if you are collecting myPerks in the first place.

If Giant Eagle is where you do most of your grocery shopping, installing this is an easy call. If you shop around between retailers, the app will feel narrower than its feature list suggests.

What's new in version 3.4.290

Bug fixes and improvements