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Valassis isn't entire coupon biz
RE: "Valassis Battered by Weak September Sales" (AdAgacom, Nov. 6). As the publisher and distributor of SmartSource Magazine (North America's leading FSI, or free-standing insert), SmartSource Coupon Machine (the automated coupon dispenser available in more than 40,000 food, drug, mass, dollar and office-supply stores) and SmartSource.com (one of the nation's largest online distributors of coupons), News America Marketing is a significant participant in the cents-off-coupon-distribution business. So, we were surprised by your recent article, based on information gleaned from Valassis' investor report, that suggested coupon distribution isdown. Simply put, Valassis' business fortune should not be viewed as the bellwether for the promotion and coupon-distribution industry at larga
When we look at our own year-to-date performance, the number of pages we printed in the FSI this year is actually up 3% vs. the same period a year ago. Feedback from our customers suggests that coupon redemption is also tracking up vs. the prior year, as would be expected in a challenging economy. Now we are seeing consumers increasingly...