Printable Coupons Expert, Couponstar, Launches New Digital Pre-Shopping Platform -- beforeIshop(TM)

LONDON, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Couponstar, the UK market leader in interactive coupon solutions, today announces the launch of its beforeIshop™ platform which includes a multi-brand, pre-shopping destination website http://www.beforeIshop.co.uk as well as a network of publisher branded microsites offering printable coupons, designed to influence the in-store purchasing behaviour of consumers who are in the mindset of planning their supermarket or high street shop.

Based on the core consumer proposition of providing users with the tools to save both time and money by doing their research online prior to hitting the shops, beforeIshop™ allows brands to target household shoppers with printable grocery coupons, printable vouchers, and other promotions whilst they are in the comfort of their own home or desk.

An evolution of CouponNET®, Couponstar's established multi-brand online printable grocery coupons network, beforeIshop™ has been developed following an extensive research and consultation process with some of the UK's leading FMCG brands, supermarkets, high street retailers and consumers. A number of  publishers and brands have already signed up to the beforeIshop™ printable vouchers launch programme, including Asda.com, GMTV, UKTV Good Food and Tesco Diets, with many other publishers, brands and retailers due to go live over the coming weeks and months.    

This first-of-a-kind platform provides a way for relatively low-involvement grocery brands and supermarkets to engage with their core consumers online, and then influence and track their in-store purchasing behaviour through the use of printable grocery coupons or other mechanisms. Building on Couponstar's expertise as the global leader for secure printable vouchers, beforeIshop™ allows brands to combine a variety of engagement tools with printable grocery coupons. These tools – which include videos, games, competitions, sampling, registrations, surveys, cash rebates and ad features – result in meaningful interactions between the consumer and the brand on multiple levels, and can be paired up with printable coupons to provide the user with the ultimate reward for their involvement – product trial or brand switching at a reduced cost.

Jo Malvern, Product and Marketing Director for beforeIshop™, says, "The recent recession has changed consumer behaviour in a fundamental way; consumers now expect additional value from almost every transaction, including when they are in the supermarket, and the challenge to marketers is to meet this expectation without compromising on their own brand values or positioning. We found from our research that whilst marketers recognise the role that price promotions such as printable vouchers and printable coupons play in attracting and keeping customers, there is increasing pressure to ensure that this investment has a longer term effect. The kind of value exchange that beforeIshop™ offers - for example where a consumer is rewarded for watching a 15 second TV ad with the reward of a money-off printable grocery coupons at the end - benefits both the consumer and the brand and allows the brand to serve longer term objectives alongside the more short term uplift to sales delivered through a money-off coupon."

Malvern continues, "What makes beforeIshop™ really unique is the variety of supermarket brands that users can interact with, and the constantly changing content. This results in a highly interactive audience who are in 'sit-up-and-click' mode rather than the more passive 'sit-back-and-read' mode more common with sites targeted by most brands.  Our approach of aggregating brands, printable coupons, printable vouchers and other content into one easy to use digital platform provides brands and retailers with a much more cost-effective route to online engagement than the more traditional route of using online display advertising to drive traffic to a brand-specific website."

Gareth Herincx, New Media Editor at GMTV, a beforeIshop™ publisher partner, says, "At GMTV we are 100% committed to offering some of the best online money-saving advice and tools in the business and our partnership with Couponstar has always been a key element of this commitment. The fact that the coupons are for everyday products and are redeemable at all major supermarkets means that they are relevant to everyone and fit into their lifestyle easily and effectively."

Matthew Stephenson, Marketing Manager at beforeIshop™ advertising partner TSC Foods – the producer of the award winning Glorious! soups and sauce range, says, "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."

beforeIshop™ audience:

• 670,000 unique users per month
• 70% female, 30% male
• Over 65% aged between 25 and 54
• 58% have a household income over 30,000 pounds
• 75% educated to degree level or higher
• More than 50% work in office based occupations

(Source: Nielsen Netview)

About Couponstar

Couponstar is an interactive coupon solutions company that specialises in transforming online activity into measurable offline sales with a suite of products that safely and effectively integrates printable coupons (or vouchers) into online marketing campaigns. Its innovative marketing technology solutions, including its new beforeIshop™ digital platform which includes a multi-brand, pre-shopping destination website (www.beforeIshop.co.uk)  as well as a network of publisher branded microsites including Asda.com, Tesco Diets, GM.TV and UKTV Good Food enables FMCG brands, supermarkets and high street retailers to reach millions of qualified consumers every month to influence the in-store purchasing behaviour of those who are in the mindset of planning their supermarket or high street shop. Since 2002, Couponstar has run more than 1800 promotions for over 150 brands across numerous industry sectors.

Couponstar holds the exclusive global license for Coupons, Inc. technology outside of North America. Its clients include the world's leading FMCG manufacturers such as Unilever, Nestle, Mars, Colgate Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson, Disney, Kraft, Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble. Couponstar currently operates campaigns in the UK, Europe & Australia. Learn more about Couponstar at www.couponstar.com

SOURCE Couponstar