United Natural Foods and CoupDog Team Up to Invigorate Digital Coupon Experience for Grocery Retailers

Rhea-AI Summary

United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE: UNFI) has announced a partnership with CoupDog to enhance digital coupon technology for its retailers. This relationship allows UNFI customers to utilize CoupDog's innovative platform, facilitating easier coupon redemption through mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Wallet. The adoption of blockchain technology aims to improve the efficiency of coupon operations while addressing fraud concerns. This initiative is expected to boost customer loyalty and drive traffic to UNFI's over 30,000 retail locations, particularly in a challenging economic environment.

Positive

• Partnership with CoupDog enhances digital coupon technology for retailers.
• Integration with mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Wallet improves coupon accessibility.
• Blockchain technology addresses fraud concerns in the couponing process.
• Expected increase in customer loyalty and store traffic during inflationary periods.

Negative

• None.

Relationship will help create a new era of coupon innovation, drive greater mobile coupon adoption, and better meet the needs of today’s consumer

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE: UNFI) (“UNFI”) today announced a new relationship with CoupDog that will allow UNFI retailers to realize significant benefits from state-of-the-art digital coupon technology. CoupDog is a digital coupon provider specializing in innovative support to independent retailers as the industry transitions to a new standard Universal Digital Coupon.

Through a relationship with CoupDog, and their groundbreaking Blockchain technology, UNFI can provide retail customers access to state-of-the-art digital coupon technology that can be integrated into consumers mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet, or even printed on paper. (Photo: Business Wire)

As the largest publicly traded grocery wholesale distributor in North America, UNFI is focused on providing its customers with cutting-edge products and services to help them operate their stores more efficiently. The relationship with CoupDog, and their groundbreaking Blockchain technology, provides UNFI retailers access to an easy-to-use and reliable digital coupon that can be integrated into mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet, or even printed on paper. CoupDog’s patented solution also fully supports the new 8112 Universal Digital Coupon format.

Coupons provide attractive value to consumers through discounts and deals and drive traffic to stores, especially as shoppers continue to face inflationary pressure and other economic concerns. Historically, retailers have had to balance these benefits with fraud concerns related to traditional coupons. CoupDog’s innovative technology addresses those concerns while making it simple and hassle free for consumers to discover and redeem valuable digital coupons from national, regional, and even emerging consumer goods companies. By leveraging its network of suppliers, UNFI will be able to enhance supplier marketing and merchandising while improving overall deals and offers. This, in turn, can help UNFI’s more than 30,000 customer locations drive increased participation in manufacturer-funded coupon redemption.

“Retailers rely on UNFI to help them discover what’s next, introduce them to new opportunities to drive growth and efficiencies, and deliver insights and expertise that help them succeed in their market. To that end, we’re excited to be working with CoupDog to unleash the latest in digital technology to redefine coupons for grocery retail,” said Chris Testa, President at UNFI. “Our focus is on solutions that empower retailers to grow and thrive while improving the customer experience for shoppers. These technologically advanced coupons not only deliver a more reliable and secure transaction, but they are also structured to reduce costs, improve cash flow, increase shopper loyalty, and drive retailer profits.”

CoupDog digital coupons easily integrate with a retailer’s point-of-sale, e-commerce, and marketing platforms to create a seamless omnichannel experience for shoppers. The complexity of coupon acceptance, validation, and redemption is completely managed by CoupDog, with no additional labor required from retailers. This should result in substantive cost savings when compared to other platforms. Additionally, integration with UNFI’s existing paper coupon clearing service facilitates a quick and seamless payment to retailers.

“We are very excited to be working with UNFI to empower independent grocers to deliver a modern, simple, easy-to-use digital coupon platform,” says Rob Balfour, Chief Executive Officer of CoupDog. “We are proud to provide these retailers with best-in-class promotional tools, allowing them to deliver compelling promotions and significant cost savings to their customers.”

UNFI Professional Services offers the most comprehensive suite of services and solutions for grocery retailers in the market today. With over 150 customizable solutions, UNFI Professional Services helps grocery retailers succeed by reducing operating costs, driving traffic, increasing basket size, and enhancing the customer experience. Services offered include pricing support, in-store shelf management, planograms, POS and cashier-less checkout technology, store remodels, and much more, helping retailers keep pace with the changing landscape of grocery and stay focused on what matters most: delighting customers to win in the market.

About UNFI

UNFI is North America's premier grocery wholesaler delivering the widest variety of fresh, branded, and owned brand products to more than 30,000 locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, ecommerce providers, and food service customers. UNFI also provides a broad range of value-added services and segmented marketing expertise, including proprietary technology, data, market insights, and shelf management to help customers and suppliers build their businesses and brands. As the largest full-service grocery partner in North America, UNFI is committed to building a food system that is better for all and is uniquely positioned to deliver great food, more choices, and fresh thinking to customers. To learn more about how UNFI is Fueling the Future of Food, visit www.unfi.com.

About CoupDog

CoupDog is a next-generation digital coupon platform delivering true innovation to the promotion ecosystem. CoupDog has combined a secure, scalable distributed ledger using Blockchain technology and integrated it with the latest mobile wallet platforms from Apple and Google, as well as Retailer Load2Card platforms. As a cloud-based promotion engine and system of record, CoupDog’s patented platform serves as the single source of truth for dispute-free processing and settlement. For more information visit www.coupdog.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221020005322/en/

For Investors:

Kristyn Farahmand

401-213-2160

kristyn.farahmand@unfi.com

-or-

Steve Bloomquist

952-828-4144

steve.j.bloomquist@unfi.com

For Media:

Jeff Swanson

952-903-1645

jeffrey.s.swanson@unfi.com

Source: United Natural Foods, Inc.

FAQ

What is the recent partnership announced by UNFI on October 20, 2022?

UNFI announced a partnership with CoupDog to enhance digital coupon technology for retailers, aiming to drive greater adoption of mobile coupons.

How will the CoupDog partnership impact UNFI's retailers?

The partnership will provide UNFI retailers with access to innovative digital coupons that integrate with mobile wallets, improving customer engagement and reducing coupon fraud.

What are the benefits of the new digital coupon technology for UNFI?

The new technology is expected to enhance customer loyalty, drive traffic to stores, and simplify coupon redemption, particularly important as consumers face inflation.

When was the partnership between UNFI and CoupDog announced?

The partnership was announced on October 20, 2022.

What stock symbol is associated with United Natural Foods, Inc.?

The stock symbol for United Natural Foods, Inc. is UNFI.