ISP claims coupon misredemption victory against Tesco

LONDON - The Institute of Sales Promotion is claiming it forced Tesco to take steps to stop customers redeeming coupons for products they have not bought.

Sainsbury's coupons - a misredemption target?
Sainsbury's coupons - a misredemption target?

The ISP has been fighting a long battle against misredemption and has attempted to initiate dialogue on behalf of brand with the grocers for a number of years.

Out of these . As of late last year it had yet to the meet with the sales promotion trade body to discuss the problem.

Previously Tesco's terms and conditions with brands stated its policy was to "redeem all coupons presented by consumers".

According to the ISP Tesco will be running the point of sale in-store stating it will not accept coupons for products not in that consumer's shopping basket.

ISP chief executive Annie Swift said: "Tesco's policy change is great news for brand owners, many of whom have been put off using coupons because of fears over possible misredemption.

"There are some retailers, however, who are still allowing consumers to redeem coupons for products they haven’t bought, and we need to get them to rethink their stance."

In response Tesco said the decision to review its coupon policy followed an internal review, although it said it had been in dialogue with the ISP. It would not give a reason for what it described as an "internal decision".

However sources close to the brand said Tesco's move was connected with comments made by MoneySavingExpert's Martin Lewis on GMTV commenting on the savings to be made using coupons.

rather than the consumer.

Tesco is refusing to comment on the ISP's claims although on the coupon forums such as Moneysavingexpert it is evident the "misredemption" point of sale is already on display.

Tesco's change of policy follows on from a recent coupon scam in the West Midlands involving £6.89 Pedigree Chum vouchers.

According to The Sun last week, on October 1 hundreds of customers turned up at Tesco stores in West Bromwich, Willenhall and Dudley with the vouchers after printing them off of the internet.

According to the paper Claire Hampson, 40, said: "I heard it from my neighbour and printed off a few vouchers. The stores were rammed with people buying booze, bed linen, TVs, you name it.

"People were laughing and joking. We thought it was a genuine offer."

Tesco is believed to be launching an inquiry into the incident and has denied it had an impact on its decision to switch coupon policy.

Tesco's new coupon policy will be a relief to rival retailer Sainsbury's, which launched its own scheme offering targeted coupons based on the customers shopping basket.

According to sources close to the scheme the bulk of Sainsbury's money-off deals around the launch will be for own-brand products to help misredemption in rival stores. Branded promotions would be most likely to reward consumers with Nectar points.

Commenting on the issue, Sainsbury's admitted it had little control over how the coupons were handled in other stores and that there was nothing to stop consumers misredeeming its coupons.

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