Valpak, SmartSource team up with online grocery coupons

Valpak.com, a major web-based distributor of coupons for various types of retailers, will increase its distribution of grocery coupons tenfold under a partnership with SmartSource.com, the two companies said.

Cox Target Media, the parent of Valpak.com and its traditional coupon sister organization, Valpak, said it was responding to increased customer demand for grocery coupons. "Many consumers visiting Valpak.com have left us feedback that they would like more grocery coupons from our site," said Todd Leiser, vice president of Internet technology services.

Under the terms of the partnership, web shoppers can now access SmartSource.com’s grocery coupons directly from Valpak.com. SmartSource said its coupons save users an average of up to $40 per week on purchases of packaged goods from General Mills, Sara Lee Corp., Gerber Products Corp. and other major grocery suppliers. Valpak.com now offers about 40 grocery coupons on any given day, up from about 4 before its deal with SmartSource.

But grocery is still a tiny part of Valpak.com’s overall business. It offers from 10,000 to 30,000 coupons on any given day in 10 categories, restaurants being the largest and fastest growing, a spokeswoman says. Although it doesn’t separate Internet sales, Cox Target Media said its overall revenue, including Valpak franchise revenue, rose 10% year-to-year to more than $300 million in 2003.