Military commissaries aim to improve shopping experience for customers

The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) is in the process of updating its approach for calculating savings to better reflect patrons’ experiences with the products they buy based on the region in which they are shopping.

"We hear from our military families that they sometimes find lower prices on selected items outside the gate," Joseph Jeu, DeCA's director and CEO, said. "For the first time, through this new approach, we will compare our prices with local grocers on a more frequent basis to better inform our customers of potential cost savings over stores in their nearby community."

The new process also will be based on a more accurate market basket designed to better reflect what commissary patrons are normally purchasing, making military stores more responsive to customer demand for certain products.. These changes, and the fact that the monitoring will occur more frequently, aims to improve DeCA’s savings-calculation process.

"Our approach to calculating savings will not impact the prices our customers pay or the dollar benefit that they receive," Jeu said. "There will be no change to their out-of-pocket expense."

Instead of cheaper prices, military shoppers will be made more aware of which products in military stores have prices comparable to nearby stores.