PEPSI SALES POP AT A&P LEAP DAY EVENT

RICHARD TURCSIK

MONTVALE, N.J. -- Pepsi sales were hopping at A&P this leap year.

Feb. 29, the chain ran a one-day leap year special, rewarding its shoppers with free 2-liter bottles of Pepsi.

The promotion was tiered, meaning that the more shoppers spent, the more free Pepsi they received. If consumers bought one 2-liter bottle of Pepsi and spent $25, they got two bottles for free. If they bought one and spent $50, they got four bottles free; with a $75 purchase they got six bottles free and if they spent $100, they got eight bottles free.

A&P advertised the leap year sale through a full-page, four-color newspaper ad that ran Feb. 28.

At two A&P northern New Jersey stores visited by SN on leap year day, Pepsi sales were brisk, with many shoppers having several bottles in their carts. Two-liter bottles of Pepsi were on sale for 99 cents during the week of the promotion, and the Pepsi bottles were merchandised on huge endcap displays. Handwritten signs were placed on the doors, as well as at the Pepsi displays.

Shoppers had to have an A&P Bonus Savings Card to receive the discount. The Pepsi scanned at the sale price, with the savings being deducted at the end of the order.

"Early indications show that this promotion was very successful and well-received by A&P shoppers," John Harris, a spokesman for Somers, N.Y.-based Pepsi-Cola Co., told SN.

Officials at A&P were unavailable for comment about the promotion.