Our deepest thanks to Bob Pettis and his team from PepsiCo for hosting the October CIC meetings in their facility.
Bob’s presentation, Mind Your Own Business, provided members with the data points they need to obtain to understand the full costs of their coupon programs. A copy of this presentation was sent to members.
Executive Summary
Members had an excellent exchange of ideas to address current and anticipated industry security challenges. This resulted in a number of new projects outlined in this document.
2019 CIC Meetings
The Spring CIC meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, April 3rd and Thursday, April 4th, 2019 in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Summer CIC meetings will be held Wednesday, June 19th and Thursday, June 20th, 2019 in either northern New Jersey or New York City.
The Fall CIC meetings will return to Chicago on Wednesday, October 16th and Thursday, October 17th, 2019 at a location to be determined.
Counterfeit Coupon Task Force
Publix
Publix has decided not to integrate the CIC Early Warning File as part of their POS file. CIC has expressed its disappointment in this discussion to Publix and has offered to provide them assistance with counterfeit coupon issues going forward.
Publix recommends that manufacturers contact their buyers on these issues. In the event the buyers cannot resolve the issue, manufacturers should contact:
Clifford Passell, Business Development Director, Customer Service
Phone: (863) 688-1188 ext. 52103
Email: Clifford.Passell@publix.com
Other Counterfeit Coupon-related Items
CIC operation changes to address the surge in counterfeit coupons were discussed.
Management Reports
CIC Management reports were discussed.
1. Management reports will remain confidential and members should not provide them to individuals who are not employees of their companies.
2. Chain store headquarters information will be added to the transfer. Members understand that such information will likely be truncated.
3. CIC will hold annual webinars regarding the management reports prior to member distribution.
Voluntary Best Practices
There was a detailed discussion of Voluntary Best Practices. There was a general consensus to recommend these two new Voluntary Best Practices:
Overage There should be no cash back or credit provided to the consumer if the value of the coupon exceeds the selling price of the product.
Burner/Gift Cards To the extent that overage continues, retailers should be discouraged from allowing any coupon-related funds to be transferred to burner/gift/debit cards.
Please refer to the PowerPoint presentation previously provided to you to review other helpful tips about coupon redemption policies.
Barcode Issues
The appropriate use of barcodes by both manufacturers and retailers has long been a Voluntary Best Practice. There was a general discussion regarding which retailers read barcodes to the family code, and it was determined that there is currently no master list of this information. Members decided to design and distribute a standardized kit so they can test retailers’ POS systems in the field and report back to the CIC with the intent of distributing the compiled results to the membership. Gail McGurgan, SC Johnson & Son; Lucyna Kuncik, L’Oréal USA; and Lisa Giardina, Reynolds Consumer have volunteered to work with the CIC on this project.