KING SOOPERS OKS COLLEGE ID DEBITS

CHRIS O'LEARY

DENVER -- King Soopers here has begun a debit card program that enables university students to use their magnetic-stripe school identification cards for payment.

The retailer is now targeting students at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, whose ID cards are connected to their local bank accounts via a national debit approval network.

"We have two stores up in Greeley and we plan to advertise [the program] heavily there," said Mindy Bradford, electronic payment systems coordinator.

"We will also have an informational booth at the college where we'll offer [students] additional incentives to shop with their card," she added.

King Soopers plans to launch a similar ID card program next year at Colorado University in Denver, she said, adding the retailer sees the system's convenience as a way to encourage more frequent shopping and loyalty among college-age consumers.

In addition, the chain sees potential for attracting new business through increased debit card usage and recently began using five on-line debit approval networks to increase the variety of debit cards it accepts.

"Debit is a very inexpensive transaction for us and I think the banks are going to start marketing it" more aggressively, Bradford said.

Students at UNC can open an account at Norwest Bank upon receiving their ID card at the beginning of the semester. The card is equipped with a magnetic stripe that, when swiped, accesses the student's bank account through the Interlink debit network. Interlink is owned by Visa International, San Mateo, Calif.

Bradford said King Soopers began the program in response to student demand, citing a survey earlier this year where students listed the supermarket as one of the top places they would like to use their IDs for payment.

The new approval networks broaden the types of debit cards accepted at the point of sale, she said. King Soopers previously accepted only off-line debit, where the retailer is credited by the provider bank a few days after the purchase.

Accepting the student ID card at the point of sale required only a minimum of effort on the retailer's part, Bradford said. "Once we went live with the debit network of Interlink it was a no-brainer. We didn't have to do any additional software changes."