"Food City is committed to bringing our customers top quality products at the lowest possible price and EZ-PIC™ offers one more way to save," said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer. "In addition to our everyday low prices and ValuCard discounts, this new technology will provide instant coupon savings on items shoppers purchase every day-but without the need of paper coupons."

EZ-PIC™ is redeemed instantly every time shoppers purchase featured products during the one-month promotional period. For added consumer value and convenience, a growing number of progressive manufacturers have begun offering their coupons through EZ-PIC™. A completely electronic transaction, EZ-PIC™ paperless coupons are the alternative promotional tool for environmentally conscious companies.

The sale numbers are amazing for Big Y’s paperless instant coupon program, according to Big Y’s Phill Schneider, vice president of center of the store. In mid-November, Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass., became the first major retailer in the region to launch “EZ-PIC,” a chain-wide electronic coupon program.

Unlike a loyalty program, EZ-PIC requires no signup. The items are promoted in store via shelf signs as well as signage at the POS. The only effort of the shopper is to walk though the aisles and select products advertised by the EZ-PIC signs. Products in this program have automatic savings and the discount is electronically programmed into the cash register at the grocery stores. The reduced price shows up on the cash register receipt. For the customer, it save time of going through circulars and Free Standing Inserts (FSIs) looking for coupons, clipping them, organizing them, and discarding those that have expired.

For example if a shopper was looking for apple juice, there could be a sign on a specific brand of juice that says “Save a $1 when you purchase two.” The same sign would be there for four weeks. With EZ-PIC there are no restrictions on the number of redemptions allowed; shoppers receive saving every time a manufacturer’s paperless coupon offer is fulfilled. In the initial launch, 25 manufacturers, each from a different category, financed discounts on 91 items in the first month of the promotion. Some of these manufacturers include Seneca Foods, Ocean Spray, Musco Olives, Chicken of the Sea, Bordon Shredded cheese, Langers, 600lb. Gorilla Frozen Cookie Dough, and Marie Callender’s Libby’s Canned Vegetables.

One of the results of the program is that once the four-week deal is over, the products is selling better than before the deal started, said Mr. Schneider. “It’s a great way to get the product out there and then have repeat sales,” he said.

He said that the manufacturers have watched the Big Y program closely to see how products would sell. Mr. Schneider anticipates that the program will be greatly expanded with 2,500 stores getting involved by July 1. “I think the manufacturers are quite happy. They are getting a return on what they paid for.”

“Anytime you can offer a customer a simple easy value, it’s good program for Big Y. The back office function and billing is very easy,” said Mr. Schneider.

Members of Topco Associates LLC have endorsed EZ-PIC in an effort to bring the benefits of the new paperless instant coupon to food industry leaders and their customers, Topco Associates is a privately held cooperative that works to provide the least costly and most effective products and services to its food industry members.

There are no fixed fees associated with the EZ-PIC program; manufacturers only pay for the paperless instant coupons that are redeemed in the store. Additional national retailers who have agreed to take on the program include: Food City (K-VA-T), Lowes, Coborns, Brookshires, Hy-Vee, and Kings Super Markets.