A&P Unveils Online Coupon Galleries
Supermarket retailer The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) is partnering with internet coupon provider Coupons.com to offer
online coupon galleries on several of its banner websites.
A&P’s
www.apfreshonline.com,
www.waldbaums.com,
www.superfreshfood.com,
www.pathmark.com,
www.thefoodemporium.com and
www.foodbasicsusa.com e-commerce sites now feature coupon galleries with hundreds of dollars worth of coupons across all product categories. Customers can enter their ZIP code to obtain coupons specific to their area and print desired coupons with one click.
A&P reported an $86.2 million
operating loss during its fiscal year 2008 (ended February 28, 2009), which the retailer partially attributed to the performance of its Pathmark banner, as well as to the impact of the recession on cash-strapped consumers. Presumably by including Pathmark in this new online money-saving feature A&P is attempting to counteract both of these soft spots before the end of fiscal 2009.
Supermarket Retailers Discover Online Coupons
Increasingly, supermarket retailers are turning to online coupons as a means of enticing customers to visit their stores. Supermarket retailer HyVee, Inc. is expanding the multichannel
online service capabilities available on its
web site. Customers are now able to shop the inventory of local stores, create shopping lists and locate coupons, among other online options.
HyVee is partnering with content/software provider
Grocery Shopping Network to bring its e-commerce site and brick-and-mortar stores closer together. As mentioned above, customers can use the HyVee e-commerce site to find items at local stores and place them on a printable shopping list with store coupons before leaving home. Customers can also add items from a clickable store circular, link to manufacturer coupons, find recipes on a 64,000-recipe database, and obtain information about unadvertised in-store specials. In addition, Hy-Vee plans to add educational online cooking videos.
Other retailers in the supermarket vertical are also providing customers with multichannel service offerings. Safeway supermarket banners including Tom Thumb and Randalls participate in the
Cellfire mobile coupon network,
allowing members of the two chains’ loyalty club programs to automatically download coupons on their loyalty cards.
