GIANT EAGLE-EYED SHOPPER TO BE FETED ON INTERNET

DENISE ZIMMERMAN

PITTSBURGH -- Giant Eagle here launched a World Wide Web site promoting its frequent shopper program and a contest to encourage more visits to the stores as well as the electronic page.

Through a special online web promotion, "eagle-eyed" shoppers were alerted to watch the skies for the company's hot air balloon. The consumer who correctly identified its location and whose name was drawn at random was to be featured in the pages of Giant Eagle's Web page (http://www.gianteagle.com/) last week.

The page went live this month and the contest is among several programs and services featured in text and graphic format.

Color photographs, for example, are presented electronically to demonstrate a special graphics service available in stores while explanatory text describes the chain's frequent shopper program, Giant Eagle Advantage.

The retailer is among several who are now developing web sites. Among them are Kroger Co., Cincinnati (http://www.foodcoop.com/kroger/); Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C. (http://www.foodlion.com/); Ralphs Grocery Co., Compton, Calif. (http://www.ralphs.com/); Cub Foods Georgia division, Lithia Springs, Ga. (http://www.shopat.com/cub/); Scolari's Food & Drug, Sparks, Nev. (http://www.shopat.com/scolari/); and Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City (http://www.fleming.com/).

Giant Eagle declined comment to SN for this story but a visit to the page reveals several features designed to capture customers' interest. New information will be added biweekly, according to a source working on the project.

In the contest portion of the web page, consumers who have sighted the Giant Eagle hot air balloon in the sky are asked to register the time and location of the sighting. Contest entries, which are transmitted on-line, must also indicate whether the balloon was "hovering" or "tethered" at the time of the sighting.

Winners who grant permission to the retailer may see their names -- or even their electronic visages -- appearing in the page, the source told SN.

Giant Eagle is also using its web page to promote a special graphics services, PC PictureShow, that shoppers may use when they bring film in for processing. The service converts photographic images from film to computer diskette so shoppers can display them on computer monitors, print them out or transmit them via modem.