SAVE MART TO SET UP COIN KIOSKS

DENISE ZIMMERMAN

MODESTO, Calif. -- Save Mart Supermarkets here will install "coin-exchange" kiosks in 15 stores early next year in a program that could boost annual revenues by $100,000 at each site.

The kiosks, which were tested in four locations for six months, allow stores to cash in on shoppers' loose change, said Sally Sanborn, director of trade and consumer relations.

The units accept coins and generate vouchers, which shoppers cash at the checkstand. There is a 5-cent fee for each dollar of nickels, dimes and quarters, and a 10-cent fee for each dollar of pennies.

Although she could not provide an estimate of how much revenue the kiosks were generating for Save Mart, Sanborn said "a good portion" of the money dispensed through the kiosks was being spent in the stores.

On average, the coin-exchange kiosks process $300,000 a year -- more than a third of which is spent in the host store, said a source close to the situation.

Sanborn said the coin-exchange program can uncover "new money" customers have forgotten they have. "There's so many coins that are out of circulation -- that people keep in jars," she said.

Vouchers that kiosk customers present at the checkstand can be used to track changing spending patterns and manufacturer coupons dispensed by the machine.

According to CoinStar, the Bellevue, Wash., company that provides the kiosks and manages the coupon program, kiosk users tend to spend more than the average shopper. "We estimate the market basket of the average [kiosk] user to be $35, compared to the $18.50 industry average," said a company official.

Coupon redemption, however, is estimated at or below the 2% to 3% rate for freestanding inserts, Sanborn said.

Kiosks are not a new fixture for Save Mart, which for about a year has installed machines that dispense California Lottery tickets. Such kiosks can be particularly worthwhile customer services that also can reduce labor costs in some areas, Sanborn said.

Save Mart is also testing another kiosk program, a touch-screen computer monitor that shoppers use to select recipes. The computer sorts recipes according to customer-designated categories such as "low fat" or "low salt" and print them out.

Like the coin-exchange kiosks, the recipe-center kiosks dispense manufacturer coupons, Sanborn said, and do double duty as product locators, guiding shoppers to items in the store.

Sanborn said Save Mart would continue to test the recipe-center kiosks, which are provided by Supermarket Kiosk, Arroyo Grande, Calif.