Online printable coupons, which still have some retailers worried about the possibility of fraud, have advanced another step in gaining wider acceptance. The Defense Commissary Agency, the grocery provider to military personnel, retirees and families, has announced that its 273 commissaries around the world will accept computer-generated Internet coupons containing a bar code that can be scanned at store checkouts. As is becoming the industry standard, the stores will not accept Internet-generated coupons for free products, or photocopies of coupons printed off the Internet.
Harris Teeter and Giant Eagle are among the grocery store chains that recently have started to accept printed Internet coupons in stores. Others including Food Lion and Meijer have a long-established policy of accepting printed Internet coupons, notes Matthew Moog, president and CEO of Internet and coupons technology provider CoolSavings Inc.
Some grocery store chains have continued to hold out against web coupon acceptance in stores. Publix, for example, last year said it would curtail acceptance of all Internet-printed coupons. Concerns over potential fraud also last year led eBay to suspend the sale of Internet coupons in its online auctions.
Nevertheless, the popularity of coupons among consumers has caused the online coupons market to continue to expand. According to a recent report by Carolina Manufacturer’s Services, a major coupon clearinghouse, Internet coupon redemption was up 133.9% in 2003 over the previous year. Established brands such as General Mills, Kellogg’s, Hormel and others now use printable Internet coupons as promotional tools, notes Moog.
”Internet coupons are here to stay because consumers want them and trusted brands offer them,” he says. Since 1997, Moog notes CoolSavings has delivered online coupons and promotions for redemption in store and online to more than 34 million U.S. consumers.
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