DULLES, Va. — AOL has launched Shortcuts, its free service for paperless online coupons. The first retail partner to endorse the program is The Kroger Co., the largest pure grocery chain in the U.S. with 2,487 stores in 31 states under local brands such as Kroger, Ralphs, King Soopers and Fry's. General Mills, Kimberly-Clark and Kraft are the first partners to sign on to participate with coupons for their popular consumer brands.
Shoppers can visit the Shortcuts Web site to set up an account using their existing store loyalty card. They can then search the Shortcuts online coupon service by brand, product or category and click on grocery coupons they want to add to their card. When consumers shop for groceries they simply scan their loyalty card at checkout and the coupons are automatically applied to their purchases.
Shortcuts also allows shoppers to print out a sorted list of "clicked" coupons to take to the grocery store. Shoppers can review their savings immediately on the register receipt as well as online. Users can also choose to receive e-mail alerts detailing coupons redeemed, savings to-date and the value of coupons remaining on their loyalty card.
More than 257 million coupons were distributed in 2007 and the vast majority of these were delivered via freestanding newspaper inserts that consumers often receive with the Sunday paper. Meanwhile, 81 percent of shoppers have and use at least one store loyalty card, and 75 percent of these shoppers use the card weekly.
