08 Jun

Tesco’s coupon destruction proposal – update

Posted in Industry News, MRM News      Tags: , , , , , ,

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.

20 Apr

Important Announcement – Tesco set to destroy supplier coupons

Posted in Industry News, MRM News      Tags: , , , , , , , ,

We have learned during the last few days that Tesco has decided that from June 2010 they will no longer return manufacturer coupons they accept in part payment on your behalf. We understand that Tesco will continue to deduct the value of your coupons from your trading account but will then simply pass on the information as they do now but not the physical coupons, these will simply be destroyed.

This decision has been taken by Tesco for what we believe to be cost reduction reasons. There has been no prior consultation with suppliers, stakeholders or any of the representative bodies such as ISBA or the ISP. With so little time left before implementation we assume you will be contacted quite soon by Tesco.

As the coupon agent working on behalf of many manufacturers we have immediately brought this to the attention of the ISP, ISBA and the FDF and will do everything we can to help repeal this decision, if at all possible. We are concerned about this decision on a number of levels:

• How do we know coupons are securely destroyed and not re-circulated?
• As far as we know there will be no exceptions, so any coupon you have circulated with PIN data on it will be lost
• Uniquely personalised internet coupons that can be validated will be impossible to track
• ‘Free’ coupons can be claimed at any price without reconciliation

Ultimately if this is forced through we will need to discuss the impact and to consider what we can do to help our clients deal with any matters arising and future couponing activity to ensure they are not disadvantaged by this arbitrary move.

We question why you would continue to pay the same rate of handling allowance when the service has been removed?

This change would be difficult to accept in any circumstance but given the backdrop of last year’s misredemption issues with Tesco and the continued shortfall between the values claimed through the direct recovery process and those verified by ourselves, we believe this initiative:

• Reduces your marketing options
• Leaves you open to fraud (by customers/staff) within Tesco
• Loses your right to verify and challenge
• Will leave you open for redemptions against products Tesco do not stock, without recourse

We have brought this news to you as soon as we were confident about Tesco’s intentions. We will be actively involved at an industry level and would be happy to take forward any specific issues you may have. If you would like to be involved in the ISP’s consultation please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Please contact mrmsales@mrm.co.uk to register your interest and keep checking back on www.mrm.co.uk for more information.