AOL Gets into Coupon Marketing

AOL will launch an online coupon program that will let users get rebates from selected retailers.

Dubbed AOL Shortcuts, the project will ask consumers to click on Web ads to receive offers. Those offers will be stored in a personal online account where users can register their store loyalty accounts.

According to a report in Advertising Age, users of the AOL Shortcuts feature won’t be required to download and print out paper coupons for in-store redemption. That should save on paper waste, as well as eliminating the expense of shipping and sorting coupons at a clearinghouse.

Instead, users will redeem their coupons at checkout, both through retailers’ loyalty programs and through new redemption systems for retailers that don’t have frequent-shopper programs.

AOL also expects the new system will offer branding and marketing opportunities, and it will provide stores with the ability to track and report consumer behavior and brand impressions.

AOL brand marketing director Michael Lawless told Advertising Age the company is close to signing deals with two major retailers and several consumer packaged goods manufacturers, but did not name them.