Sainsbury's Planning Nationwide Coupon Service

Mon, 23 Feb 2009

Sainsburys stores across the country are to offer customers targeted coupons at checkouts later this year.

The supermarket chain is planning an imminent roll out of its coupon-offering service at all its UK stores following a successful 12-month trial.

The system, which instantly creates a colour coupon based on the contents of the shopper's purchases, is operated by in-store loyalty specialist Catalina Marketing and is currently running in Sainsburys stores in Tamworth, Leicester, Blackheath and Coventry.

The move by Sainsburys to expand its coupon offering comes as research shows consumers are increasingly switching to the offer as the economic recession deepens.

According to a report by P&I and Maximiles, coupons are the second most popular type of offer behind free gifts .

But despite their growing popularity many brands have been turning away from coupons because of redemption issues.

A report by the Institute of Sales Promotion found that the number of coupons issued by brands last year fell by 40 per cent.