SAFEWAY CHECKS OUT ATM PROMOTION

DAN ALAIMO

DENVER -- In a test program, the Safeway division here is using automated teller machine receipts to promote video sales and rentals. The test started in April with a rental promotion geared around the title "Babe," and will run through the end of the year, said Pete Severens, president at ATM Couponing, Dunwoody, Ga.

Executives at the Safeway division could not be reached for comment.

The coupons are printed on the back of ATM receipts from in-store machines. For example, on "Babe" the coupon promotion was billed as "The Baby Sitters Special: Rent 'Babe' and Get the Second Children's Rental Free." The movie "Seven" was promoted with an offer of a free movie rental with the rental of any other two tapes. To promote sales of the movie "Jumanji," the ATM receipts included a mail-in offer of a free collectible button. The movie's box art and $15.95 selling price at all Safeway locations were highlighted. "An in-store coupon offers you something that no other coupon does: an impulse opportunity," said Severens. "You are reaching the prospect in the retail outlet as they are withdrawing cash, about to make a purchase," he said. "That has got to be the most significant time that a coupon could be presented to an individual. You not only reach a qualified prospect, but you reach that prospect in the purchasing cycle," he said. "It really helps the retailer to promote their video department and make people aware that it is there," said Severens. This kind of promotion is without cost to the retailer, he said. It is paid for by the manufacturer. In the case of "Jumanji," that was the studio distribution arm, Columbia TriStar Home Video, Culver City, Calif. "This is a very innovative sort of promotion," said Columbia TriStar spokesman Fritz Friedman. "We are delighted to hear of any new means of promoting our titles into the supermarkets." Results from the Safeway test are not available yet, said Severens. But a similar program done in the past with Blockbuster yielded a 2% redemption rate, which was measured through the retailer's point-of-sale system. "Those were verifiable results that were actually quite good," he said.