SMARTALK TELESERVICES CHECKS IN AT CHECKOUT

JOEL ELSON

DUBLIN, Ohio -- SmarTalk Teleservices here will market prepaid phone card certificates at supermarket checkout registers through the electronic Catalina Marketing Network.

Starting next month, Schnuck Markets, King Kullen and Schultz Sav-O-Stores will be among the chains to shift their electronically dispensed Catalina Checkout Call Cards to SmarTalk Calling Certificates, said Andrew Casey, vice president of retail product sales at Catalina, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Catalina, instead of offering its prepaid calling card as a stand-alone product, purchasing airtime wholesale and then reselling it to a retailer, is "now making it part of the SmarTalk portfolio," Casey explained.

SmarTalk has been the network provider since Catalina launched its prepaid phone certificate program about a year ago.

"While the product is essentially the same, we decided to give SmarTalk more direct responsibility for selling, marketing and servicing the product, and to change the card's name to SmarTalk," said Casey.

Other retailers that sell prepaid phone cards through the Catalina Marketing Network include Giant Food, Weis Markets, Coborn's, Laneco and Spartan Stores. SmarTalk prepaid cards are sold in 15-, 30- and 60-minute increments at 25 to 33 cents per minute.

The new SmarTalk prepaid phone certificates carry the SmarTalk logo and resemble the vendor's plastic phone cards, said Tim Klapka, Catalina's sales director for retail products.

SmarTalk is developing new point-of-purchase materials and signage to support the new phone card, said Kevin Grant, SmarTalk's director of brand management.