GIANT FOOD IS OFFERING FREE HOLIDAY COUPONS

BOB BAUER

LANDOVER, Md. -- Giant Food here is offering its customers free holiday gift certificates in a grocery products promotion using Checkout Coupons from Catalina Marketing, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Through each of 26 offers, shoppers can receive coupons for $1 toward the purchase of Giant holiday gift certificates. Those certificates come in denominations of $1, $5, $10, $25 or $50. Participating manufacturers include Borden, Keebler, Jell-O, Pillsbury, Healthy Choice and Gerber.

This is the first time a chain has tied the checkout coupons to gift certificates, according to Bob Mutzl, senior director of marketing at Catalina. The promotion, which began Nov. 27, continues through Dec. 24.

Karl Maggard, Catalina's executive vice president of marketing, referred to Giant's promotion as a pay-for-performance program, which combines merchandising with advertising to influence the purchase of products before, during and after a shopping trip.

Maggard added, "The supermarket is selling multiple units pretty much at full margin and so is the manufacturer." The before aspect is the advertisement alerting customers to the promotion. Shelf labels influence shoppers during their trip. The coupons influence purchase behavior after the trip by encouraging future purchases.

Giant has run similar dollar-off promotions for some time, Mutzl said. "What they've done here is put a little twist on it with the holidays, making that dollar a gift certificate that can be redeemed at Giant Food. In reality, it's still a

dollar off," Mutzl added.

Giant touted the promotion through full-page newspaper advertisements, as well as prominent mention in its circulars. Giant officials were unavailable to comment on the promotion.

"Giant was one of the first retailers to go on our program," Mutzl said. "They've been on the system for seven or eight years now. They're an innovator in merchandising. They stand out in their field."

Maggard predicted some of Giant's customers would use the certificates as gifts during the holidays. "You can't give a $1 coupon as a gift, but you can pool that with other coupons and give a gift certificate," he said. "The supermarket and the manufacturer are often pleased with the kind of execution they get."

A local industry observer said it was too early to accurately determine the success of the program, but predicted the results would be favorable.

"I won't be surprised to see them do this again. I've talked to a couple of people involved who are encouraged by early movement of the featured items. A coupon makes a nice impression. But when you can combine coupons to come up with a gift certificate, then you're really talking," the local source said.