Server: Microsoft-IIS/3.0 Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 22:35:34 GMT Content-Type: text/html Accept-Ranges: bytes Last-Modified: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 20:55:56 GMT Content-Length: 11654
Internet and Food Industries Embrace Secure Online Coupon Format
AOL, Excite, General Mills, A&P Sign On
Greenwich, Conn. (December 1, 1997) SuperMarkets Online, Inc., a pioneer in online couponing and a division of leading database and in-store marketer Catalina Marketing Corporation (NYSE:POS), today unveiled distribution agreements and strategic alliances with major online services, packaged goods manufacturers and grocery retailers to deliver online savings to millions of consumers nationwide. Agreements have been reached with 10 consumer online sites, 24 consumer packaged goods manufacturers and nearly 90 grocery chains, including industry leaders like America Online, Excite, Microsoft, General Mills, Nabisco, Piggly Wiggly and A&P.
"Our ValuPage service is the Webs answer to Sunday newspaper coupons, only with greater savings that will become increasingly targeted over time," explained David Rochon, president of SuperMarkets Online.
The ValuPageSM service is already live in a number of major markets, with a nationwide launch slated for early February 1998. ValuPage, essentially a shopping list with a bar code on top, will allow consumers to use their PCs and online services to save as much as $15 to $20 per grocery store visit. The savings, which can be accessed through ValuPage buttons and banners on a wide variety of Web sites, will initially cover over 80 product categories in more than 7,000 supermarkets nationwide. The company also maintains its own web site.
"These agreements bring together manufacturers, retailers and the Web community with the existing infrastructure of the Catalina Marketing Network, putting us in the unique position of having national reach with little capital investment," said Rochon. "We all have something to gain here the Web community gets a chance to access promotional dollars; brand manufacturers look forward to testing the Web as a secure, nationwide promotional medium; and retailers want to see how ValuPage delivers as a loyalty program. But the real winners will be consumers, who can now use the Web and online services to save money on groceries week in and week out."
SuperMarkets Online currently has agreements to distribute ValuPage via major online services, including America Online, Excite and various Microsoft services. Will Gardenswartz, vice president of marketing and business development of SuperMarkets Online, estimates that in 1998, ValuPage will become a regular button in a total of 20 major Web sites and will be supported by some 200 million banners in what Gardenswartz calls the ValuPage Network. Under current agreements, ValuPage will be available through the following 10 sites and services in early 1998:
- America Online
- DV2U (Metromail)
- Excite
- Hot Coupons (Money Mailer)
- MSNBC (Microsoft)
- Mauny's Kitchen (Microsoft)
New Century Network (125 national newspapers) Switchboard (Banyan) The Mining Company Womens Wire ValuPage will draw on the consumer packaged goods industrys promotions spending, which tops more than $71 billion annually, to infuse consumer incentives into ordinary online ads.
"Consumer packaged goods companies have started spending real ad dollars on the Web," said Dave Gunn, director of new business development at Excite. "But getting to the promotional dollars the biggest bucket of all is a challenge that SuperMarkets Online helps us overcome."
Delivering Secure Coupons
The consumer packaged goods community so far has resisted home-printed online couponing due to concerns over coupon fraud and the relative ease of reproducing digitally delivered black and white coupons. SuperMarkets Online has overcome these fears by channeling ValuPage offers through the Catalina Marketing Network®, a scanner-based system with printers at the checkstand in more than 10,800 U.S. supermarkets.
The new couponing system deployed by SuperMarkets Online allows consumers to print ValuPage IDs from their home PCs. When presented at checkout along with corresponding purchases, these IDs trigger Catalina Marketing Network point-of-sale printers to produce secure Web Bucks™, which are good for savings on subsequent grocery purchases from any store in the issuing supermarket chain. Concerns over counterfeiting are eliminated in this system because the real coupon the Web Buck is printed only after an actual product purchase.
It works like this:
- Consumers view coupon offers on ValuPage sections of Web sites, select a participating retailer from their local region and print, via their home printer, a ValuPage ID redeemable at the selected supermarket.
- Consumers buy designated products at the selected retailer and present the ValuPage ID at checkout.
- The cashier scans the home-printed ValuPage ID and the products through the retail point-of-sale system.
- After the Catalina Marketing Network verifies both ValuPage ID and products, it automatically triggers the Catalina Marketing in-store printer to generate Web Bucks, which are secure coupons good on the consumer's next trip to the issuing grocery chain. Web Bucks can be redeemed for any purchases made at the issuing chain there is no requirement to buy the same products.
"The world of online opportunities is exploding," said Ann Carr, director of consumer promotions for General Mills. "Weve investigated many options in this area. SuperMarkets Online is an excellent way for manufacturers to reach consumers in a new medium."
Where To Cash Them
Under current agreements, Web Bucks will be issued in more than 7,000 retailers in 41 states. Company officials expect a speedy ramp-up that will effectively give SuperMarkets Online the same footprint enjoyed by the Catalina Marketing Network 10,800 supermarkets nationwide reaching more than 142 million U.S. shoppers per week.
"Weve partnered with SuperMarkets Online to accept ValuPage coupons for three simple reasons the coupons are secure from fraud, accepting them requires no new investment in equipment and, since the coupons are chain specific, they drive store traffic and encourage customer loyalty," said Michael Houser, senior vice president, director of marketing and merchandising, Piggly Wiggly.
Greenwich, Conn.-based SuperMarkets Online, Inc. offers packaged goods manufacturers a secure Internet coupon solution that dramatically reduces the potential for fraud by taking advantage of the in-store, scanner-based Catalina Marketing Network. The system is slated for Web-wide roll-out in early 1998, when SuperMarkets Online will begin serving ValuPage coupons into a variety of Web sites and major online services.
SuperMarkets Online is a business unit of Catalina Marketing Corporation, which captures and influences the purchase patterns of more than 142 million U.S. shoppers in 10,800-plus supermarkets each week via 20 individually customized communications and promotion programs, including its original Checkout Couponâ program.
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