BOSTON -- Great amounts of potential, coupled with exacerbated risk of fraud -- that was the primary insight about Internet couponing that emerged from the Joint Industry Coupon Conference, held here earlier this month.
The forum, which drew an estimated 200 people, was co-sponsored by the Association of Coupon Professionals, Food Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers of America and the Uniform Code Council.
Retailers and vendors seemed eager to share intelligence on the blizzard of counterfeit coupons that blanketed the Atlanta area in August (see related story on Page 21), although key facts remain unclear. As reported, most cases involved offers of free product. Damage estimates ranged from $300,000 to $1 million, according to several attendees.
Yet, the overwhelming feeling was that Internet coupons are here to stay because a broad range of customers like using them.
"We think it should be a collaborative process how we move forward with this technology," said Bob Pettis, operations manager for PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y. "We don't want to be too conservative."
In lively afternoon sessions, panel and audience members exchanged ideas about how cashiers can verify coupons -- everything from printing a deterrent line ("cashier will ask for identification") to using a device similar to a jeweler's loop to pick up printed patterns on a coupon.
The consensus was that, as sophisticated color printers and graphics programs become commonplace in homes, the likelihood for "creative couponing" would rise.
Any reliable method of verifying coupons at the register would have to be quick and unobtrusive, retailers emphasized, to keep customer lines from forming.
"I have 33,000 cashiers average age 16 to 18 to train," said Mary Oster, supervisor of coupon administration for Target Stores, Minneapolis. "I cannot ask them to do much extra."
Target has handled the crisis on a store-by-store basis, Oster said. "We don't want the negative publicity that would come from putting up signs in every store saying customers can't use coupons."
