Following a number of discussions over recent weeks with Tesco, we wish to provide you with an interim update to their proposal to destroy all supplier coupons from 15th June 2010.

Despite our best endeavours to persuade Tesco to take their foot off the pedal and work through the major issues, and this process has included a number of stakeholder meetings, Tesco remain determined to continue with their decision.

Our advice to you as our client is:

1. Continue to coupon as usual
2. Any data you are collecting via coupons (PIN and name & address) will be lost via Tesco redemptions.
3. Do not avail yourself of Tesco’s proposed validation system as the cost and specification has not yet been provided. What we do know is that it has very limited scope at present
4. If you have any coupons in the market via Fixed Fee or Insurance you must contact your provider immediately to discuss any possible impact

We will continue to update you on this situation as it develops. Tesco have taken our objective appraisal of their EPOS system and we await their development of this service. We understand Tesco will provide better reporting than currently on offer, but we don’t have full details on this yet. In our most recent meeting, we lodged our concerns about the validity of their current reporting as this already shows up the inaccuracies of their EPOS system and we’re hoping they will address this so that reports produced beyond 15th June will become more accurate and hopefully reliable.

I hope you understand we will continue to update you as we have more information to share, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.