Welcome to Quick Snips - Spring 2010! And what an eventful spring it has been for us so far, with the launch of our innovative new online consumer engagement platform, beforeIshop™.

It's nearly a year since I started re-evaluating CouponNET® to make it more relevant for our clients, publishers and consumers. The process involved extensive research, consultation and development, and is one of the biggest projects that Couponstar has undertaken since coming to the UK in 2005. Thanks to the support of our launch partners and publishers, beforeIshop™ is now open for business and is getting huge interest from brands and publishers alike!

Things don't stop there - many further developments are in the pipeline, so we'll keep you informed about all our new services, such as Video Coupons and our UK SafeCoupons® friendly store locator - ShopDigger™, all designed to help you engage and influence household shoppers before they reach the supermarket.

If you haven't done so already, take a look at the site, and get in touch if you would like information on any of our new products.

Jo Malvern
Product and Marketing Director

Publisher Focus: Delia Online

The beforeIshop™ network allows our clients (predominantly major FMCG brands) to distribute offers and coupons to a large audience of primary household shoppers (mum) via our network of like-minded partner websites. Our network of publishers already includes many blue-chip media owners such as GMTV, UKTV Food, ASDA... and we’re now delighted to announce the arrival of Britain’s best-loved cook onto the roster.

Delia Online - deliaonline.com - offers more than 1,300 Delia Smith recipes spanning over 40 years of cookery writing. As well as Delia's foolproof, easy-to-follow recipes, you can find step-by-step techniques, ingredients info, seasonal menus and plenty more!

There's a natural synergy with Delia's prime audience of cooking enthusiasts, and our many clients' aspirations to reach and engage a similar target audience of supermarket shoppers. Naturally we are very excited to be in partnership with Delia and her dedicated followers.

"We're always looking for new ways to add value to our users' experience of the site at Delia Online and we believe that the addition of the coupons page is an excellent opportunity to reward our users for their ongoing loyalty to the site. We're really looking forward to working with the team at Couponstar and hope the page will be warmly welcomed by our visitors."

Nikki Dance, Business Manager www.deliaonline.com

If you would like more information about becoming a Publisher of beforeIshop™ offers and coupons, please get in touch.

FMCG Brands Are Losing Out!

FMCG brands that only engage consumers online through their own brand websites, don't understand how grocery shoppers behave and are missing a trick.

As powerful as the Internet is, its potential for targeting and engaging with traditional supermarket shoppers, is variable for FMCG brands seeking to gain new customers and sell products. This is because everyday FMCG brands are typically low involvement purchases requiring little more than momentary thought before adding them to the trolley. Despite this, nearly every FMCG brand now has its own website which they seek to actively promote, yet consumers don't typically have the interest or time to visit it!

A cost-effective alternative approach is for Marketers to use a multi-brand promotional website which aggregates information and promotions so that consumers are able to find offers from multiple brands, all in one place.

Any snobbery that pooling brands together online may be somehow demeaning to the brand misses the point. It also fails to appreciate just how sophisticated and creative multi-brand promotional sites can be. The right platform will offer advertisers a positive brand association as well as all of the same engagement tools valued by brand owners - including advertorials, surveys, data capture and videos, all of which can also be combined with a printable coupon to drive measurable in-store sales.

When it comes to integrated marketing campaigns, brand managers must adhere to their common sense. Brands share shelf space in store and in search listings, so sharing space on an aggregated promotional site is surely much the same?

SafeCoupons® - Promoting Retailer Acceptance

You may have noticed all our coupons carry the renowned SafeCoupons® stamp, but ever wondered what it really means?

SafeCoupons® is our industry leading Retailer Education & Awareness Program. We began the program 5 years ago when we were pioneering the printable-coupon industry in the UK. Back then our objective was to increase store's awareness and encourage acceptance of our printable coupons. It's now an established brand amongst UK supermarkets. Think of it as like the "Intel inside" slogan, SafeCoupons® is a mark of trust and assurance, helping cashiers visually identify our coupons and process them quickly and efficiently so that customers have a great experience. That's why Couponstar coupons have such a high level of acceptance. In addition to this, many retailers are now Couponstar clients, helping us take retailer awareness to a whole new level.

All SafeCoupons® coupons now carry our new EAN-128 tracking barcode which provides the following benefits to our clients and partners:

• Coupon redemptions will be displayed within our web based client reporting system within 10 days of receipt by the Clearing House - Guaranteed!
• Redemption reports will be updated every week day.
• Redemption reports can now include redemption data at both store and branch levels for geo-demographic analysis.
• Coupon abuse can be detected and investigated on a daily basis.

For more information on our SafeCoupons® program, contact our SafeCoupons® Program Manager

In This Issue:

Case Study: TSC Foods TSC Foods are a new client of Couponstar, and have chosen to run their first Internet-printable coupon campaign on beforeIshop™. Client's objective: • Build brand awareness of their Glorious! soup and sauces range. • Collect registrations. • Drive in-store sales. beforeIshop™ solution: All visitors to the beforeIshop™ coupon gallery have access to the Glorious! Soup offer. A fully branded data collection form requests personal information from the user, which is then owned by TSC Foods for future marketing. Once the data collection form is submitted by the user, the coupon is selected, ready for printing and taking to the supermarket. Client Testimonial: "The beforeIshop™ digital platform is a fundamental element of our plans to increase awareness of our Glorious range and engage more effectively with consumers online. Being part of beforeIshop™ positions us alongside a wide variety of other leading brands and retailers, providing us with far more dynamic content including the social media interactivity that is becoming increasingly important to FMCG marketing." Matthew Stephen, Marketing Manager, TSC Foods.

Introducing: Evanna Rawlins, beforeIshop™ Programme Coordinator Evanna is our sociable Irish colleague which makes her perfect for chatting to our Publisher partners and keeping them up to date with what's going on with beforeIshop™. What brought you to the UK? I met my lovely husband on a ski season in France 7 years ago and followed him home to London. What do you do at Couponstar? My main focus is on growing and managing the Publisher Network. Recently we have added BabyCentre and AllinLondon to our long list of partners, so I work with our own sales team, as well as the publisher partners to optimise the galleries and achieve maximum distribution of our offers. I was also involved in the launch of beforeIshop™. What do you love to do in your time? Cook for family and friends, cycle my bike, and gossip with the girls, preferably in the pub.

© Couponstar Ltd 2010