BI-LO Joins SmartSource Online Savings Network as Retail Partner
Agreement expands Internet network to more than 5400 stores
New York, NY (September 21, 2004) – The SmartSource® Online Savings Network, the leading provider of online grocery coupon content and a division of News America Marketing, a News Corporation Company (NYSE: NWSA), today announced that BI-LO, a leading supermarket chain with 282 stores in the Southeast, has joined the network as a retail partner. The agreement will allow consumers to access SmartSource Internet coupons from BI-LO.com, where they will be able to print coupons worth an average of $40 per week on a wide variety of consumer packaged goods. Consumers may select among product offers from Hormel Foods Corp., Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, Sara Lee Corp., General Mills, Inc. and many others.
“We are so pleased that BI-LO has joined us as a retail partner,” said Heather Harde, SVP of the SmartSource Online Savings Network. “BI-LO’s new website is smartly designed with today’s busy families in mind, and the addition of SmartSource’s Internet coupons will drive more consumer traffic to BI-LO.com and expand shoppers’ purchasing power in stores.”
The SmartSource Online Savings Network, anchored by SmartSource.com, includes more than 80 leading lifestyle sites such as Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day and Better Homes and Gardens as well as a growing list of grocery and drugstore chains. The Network offers consumers access to Internet savings unavailable through Sunday newspapers or In-Store Coupon Machines.
"SmartSource coupons are a great complement to our new meal-solutions center at BI-LO.com," said Tye Anthony, BI-LO’s SVP of Grocery Marketing. "BI-LO.com offers simple meal ideas for families on the go, and the addition of simple ways to save on home-prepared meals and other groceries will deliver even more value to our consumers."
"BI-LO’s expansion to the Internet is a natural progression of our strong, in-store relationship," said Marty Garofalo, EVP Trade, News America Marketing. "We are proud that BI-LO recognizes News America Marketing as the leading single-source provider of innovative advertising and promotional solutions."
BI-LO, headquartered in Mauldin, South Carolina is one of the leading supermarket chains in the Southeast. The company operates 282 stores in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, with unaudited net sales in 2003 of USD 3,197 million. BI-LO employs approximately 22,000 associates.
The SmartSource Online Savings Network delivers interactive promotions for consumer packaged goods via a syndicated savings network consisting of newspaper, retailer and lifestyle websites, as well as its consumer destination, www.SmartSource.com
News America Marketing, a division of The News Corporation Limited, is the leading single-source provider of consumer advertising and promotional services. The company’s product portfolio, marketed under the SmartSource brand name, consists of the first branded free-standing insert, known as SmartSource Magazine®, various in-store advertising and promotional products, merchandising services, database marketing tools and online promotions. These products and services allow marketers to deliver a brand message to over 200 million consumers each month via a network of 1,161 newspapers and over 34,500 supermarket, drug and mass merchandisers locations across the country, including Albertson’s, Kroger, Winn Dixie, CVS, Eckerd and Rite Aid.
News America Marketing’s diverse portfolio of consumer-marketing programs includes:
IN-STORE MEDIA
SmartSource® At-Shelf Sampling SmartSource ShelftalkSM
SmartSource Shelftake OneSM SmartSource® Bonus Box
SmartSource ShelftalkSM Banner SmartSource ShelfvisionSM
SmartSource CartsSM SmartSource Freezer ShelftalkSM
SmartSource Showcase® SmartSource Coupon Machine®
SmartSource Freezer ExtraSM SmartSource Showcase® Extra
SmartSource Floortalk® SmartSource Price Pop® Guaranteed
Merchandising Services
HOME-DELIVERED MEDIA
SmartSource Magazine®
SmartSource Custom PublishingSM
SmartSource Price Feature Plus®
INTERACTIVE MEDIA
SmartSource Direct® Relationship Marketing & Technologies
SmartSource Online Savings NetworkSM
News America Marketing—International provides consumer-marketing services in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to a network of advertising and promotion partners in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Rim.
The News Corporation Limited (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NCP, NCPDP) had total assets as of June 30, 2004 of approximately U.S. $51 billion and total annual revenues of approximately U.S. $21 billion. News Corporation is a diversified international media and entertainment company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin.
Contact: News America Marketing
Laura Richards
212.782.8145
lrichards@newsamerica.com
Rubenstein Associates Public Relations
Robin Wagge
212.843.8006
rwagge@rubenstein.com
# # #