LAVAL, Quebec -- Circle K is joining News America Marketing's (NAM) in-store marketing network. NAM is a publisher of coupons in the United States and Canada, producing more than 165 billion coupons annually. The agreement marks an expansion into a new class of trade for NAM, which has so far focused on grocery, drug, office supply and mass merchandising stores.
NAM operates the popular online consumer coupon site SmartSource.com and publishes the Sunday coupon insert SmartSource magazine, which is delivered to more than 74 million homes each week.
The new partnership extends the value of NAM's in-store media network to all 3,050 company- operated Circle K stores, as well as a significant number of franchise and affiliate locations. The agreement states that NAM will provide the majority of its in-store portfolio. Effective immediately, NAM's in-store portfolio of SmartSource Coupon Machines, Shelftalks, Shelfvision Video and Tear Pads will be available in the Circle K stores.
"We appreciate Circle K's confidence in our partnership and performance in the convenience store class of trade," said Chris Mixson, president of NAM. "We believe our programs will add significant value to their business and their customers."
"Circle K is a world-class organization and the largest corporately-owned convenience store chain in America," said Marty Garofalo, NAM's executive vice president of trade. "We are proud to have them as a partner and part of our growing network. After significant testing, we are confident that our programs will help Circle K generate additional sales and incremental profit. We look forward to working with them and continuing to tailor our services to their needs while offering our CPG clients an opportunity to extend their activity to include this leading chain."
New York City-based NAM, a division of News Corp., is a leading single-source provider of consumer marketing services in the United States and Canada. Its SmartSource brand portfolio consists of the first branded freestanding insert, known as SmartSource magazine, online consumer coupon site SmartSource.com, various in-store marketing products, merchandising services, database marketing tools and online promotions. These products and services allow marketers to deliver a brand message to millions of consumers each month via a network of more than 1,700 newspapers and publications and more than 61,000 supermarket, drug, office, mass merchandisers, convenience and dollar-store locations across the country, including Kroger, Safeway, Publix, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Staples, Family Dollar and Dollar General.
As of April 29, 2012, Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard had a network of 5,803 convenience stores, 4,216 of which include motor fuel dispensing, as well as agreements for the supply of motor fuel to 350 independent operator sites. Couche-Tard's network consists of 13 business units, including nine in the United States covering 42 states and the District of Columbia (primarily under the Circle K flag), and four in Canada covering all 10 provinces (primarily under the Mac's and Couche-Tard flags). Following its acquisition of Statoil, Couche-Tard also operates a retail network across Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltics and Russia with approximately 2,300 stores.
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