GS1 Belgilux Launches Advanced Coupon Management

New Coupon Data Pool to feature technology from SA2 Worldsync and acardo

GS1 Belgium and Luxembourg presented the new Coupon Data Pool concept at a workshop in Brussels last month, and discussed how retailers can easily connect to more than 200 suppliers thus far participating, with many more expected at launch. Leading retailers Carrefour Belgium and Delhaize, who have 57% of the coupon market, confirmed to coupon issuers that joining the GS1 Belgilux Coupon Data Pool will generate significant benefits for all supply chain partners. The complete rollout of the couponing solution in Belgium and Luxembourg is planned for spring 2011.

The GS1 organization selected SA2 Worldsync after a request-for-proposal procedure that included many leading European solution providers. “Our board chose SA2 Worldsync mainly because acardo’s couponing solution could be seamlessly integrated with our GDS data pool Central Data Bank, hosted by SA2 Worldsync,” Jan Somers, CEO of GS1 Belgium and Luxembourg, said. “We truly believe that retailers and suppliers will benefit from this offering and can expect significant savings with immediate effect.”

Christoph Thye, CEO of acardo technologies, comments: “We are very pleased to extend to Belgium, Luxembourg and other countries our proven integration with SA2 Worldsync from Germany.”

“Better coupon management is a huge issue globally," adds Nihat Arkan, CEO of SA2 Worldsync. "Retailers and suppliers participating in this program are quickly learning how global data synchronization can help them address the mounting coupon challenge. This is why GS1 data pools around the world are talking to us about providing the acardo and SA2 Worldsync coupon management and clearing service for their participants as well."


About GS1 Belgium and Luxembourg
GS1 Belgium and Luxembourg, headquartered in Brussels, member of the global GS1 organization, is the non-for-profit organization dealing with the dissemination of the GS1 standards in Belgium and the GD of Luxembourg. Its mission is: ‘to proactively support the implementation of the global GS1 standards and collaboration concepts in order to achieve greater efficiency and/or quality in the value chain in Belgium and the GD of Luxembourg. In this way, the consumer will be served faster, better and at lower cost’. GS1 Belgium and Luxembourg has currently more than 5.000 members, manufacturers and distributors of products and services in the consumer goods sector and beyond.
GS1 Belgium and Luxembourg offers a vast portfolio of products and solutions based on the GS1 standards, including GS1 Barcodes, GS1 eCom, GS1 GDSN, GS1 EPCglobal and ECR. For more information, visit http://www.gs1belu.org


About acardo
Founded in 2000, acardo technologies is a leading provider of coupon issuance and management solutions for food retailers and suppliers across Europe. acardo provides innovative technology and marketing services, such as automatic coupon clearing, integrated check-out couponing, consumer coupon booklets, and reverse vending machines couponing and scales couponing.
Germany-based acardo is a Pironet NDH AG company. Pironet NDH also is a shareholder of other retail technology firms, including SA2 Worldsync, Prudsys and Xplace.


About SA2 Worldsync
SA2 Worldsync, a member of the PIRONET NDH Group, is a leading provider of integrated master data management solutions for product information in the retail industry. Combining expertise in global data synchronization (GDS), product information management (PIM) and electronic data interchange (EDI), SA2 Worldsync covers all stages of product, item and transaction data along shared retailer and supplier processes. The services of SA2 Worldsync are used by more than 3,800 companies worldwide, including more than 50 of the world’s leading retailers.
SA2 WORLDSYNC is a registered trademark of SA2 Worldsync GmbH and is legally used by SA2 Retail AG and SA2 Exchange GmbH. SA2 Worldsync GmbH is a joint venture of shareholders PIRONET NDH AG, Agentrics LLC and GS1 Germany. For more information, visit http://www.sa2worldsync.com.