News Marketing Canada, the company behind the SmartSource brand of consumer-savings products and services, announced that it will be bringing the successful American online couponing site, SmartSource.com to Canada as SmartSource.ca and UtiliSource.ca, the French language site. The U.S. site has approximately 100 coupons available at a time, predominantly focused on consumer packaged goods and beauty items. The U.S. site has been running for more than ten years and is one of the country’s most popular and trusted online couponing sites.
Unlike many Canadian coupon sites, the new SmartSource.ca will offer printable coupons, meaning that the consumer selects only the coupons he or she wants, and then prints them at home. The site will also offer consumers the opportunity to request samples of a wide variety of household products, food and beauty items through the mail.
“We are very excited about this opportunity to bring our online couponing expertise to the Canadian consumer,” said Henri Lellouche, SVP, SmartSource iGroup. “The quantity and breadth of what we’re able to offer, combined with the ability of shoppers to print them and use them right away, will make SmartSource.ca an important destination for consumers when planning their shopping trips.”
According to the measurement company Comscore, Canadians spend more time online than any other users in the countries tracked by the company. 2009 figures show that approximately 68 percent of the population is online, significantly ahead of the next two most web-savvy countries, France and the UK, at 62 percent each. Additionally, redemption house D+H has statistics that show that the redemption of internet coupons has doubled from 2008 to 2010.
“There’s no question that the time is right to bring a new online couponing site to Canada,” said News Marketing Canada SVP, Adam North. “And we’re thrilled that the collective experience of our US team will allow us to offer the Canadian market a fresh, robust alternative to what is currently available.”
The launch will be supported with a consumer awareness campaign that includes floor and cart advertisements in the grocery and drug stores where online coupons are frequently used.
Online coupons are accepted at most retailers, including Loblaw, Shoppers Drug Mart and Walmart.
