AOL’s Shortcuts.com Adds Safeway Supermarkets to Roster

More than 1,500 Grocery Stores Added to Electronic Coupon Service

New York, NY .– AOL’s Shortcuts.com, http://www.shortcuts.com, a free, paperless electronic coupon service that links coupons directly to participating grocery store savings cards, today announced shoppers can now use this free service at all Safeway Inc. owned stores nationwide. Safeway Inc. has 1,554 stores in 22 states and the District of Columbia under local brands such as Safeway, Carrs, Dominick’s, Genuardi’s, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb and Vons.

“We’re excited to make Shortcuts.com electronic coupons available to millions of Safeway, Inc. shoppers, helping them save money on groceries,” said Kimberley Partoll, Executive Vice President, New Ventures, AOL. “In this economy, consumers are eager to save money and are turning to the Web to help them make the most of their time and money. Partnering with Safeway provides top-tier brands looking to increase coupon use with access to millions of consumers across the country.”

“Shoppers are spending more and more time online and we see electronic coupons loaded to their shopper card as a way to better serve our customers.” said Michelle Marian, Vice President Interactive Marketing, Safeway Inc. “As Safeway launches the new couponLink program, we’re excited to partner with Shortcuts.com to offer our customers a unique way to save at our stores and online. Also our customers who shop online at Safeway.com can use the digital coupons, which is a new and exciting option for them.”

With just three simple steps, Shortcuts.com is a free and easy solution for saving money on groceries. Consumers visit Shortcuts.com, enter their store savings card, and select the coupons they want. Selected coupons are then loaded to their grocery store savings card and the coupons are automatically redeemed at checkout when the registered card is swiped. Shoppers benefit because they are not burdened with the hassles of paper coupons -- remembering, sorting, clipping. Shortcuts.com makes saving money on groceries easier than ever.

With the addition of Safeway Inc. to its roster, Shortcuts.com is now available to shoppers of more than 4,000 grocery stores nationwide with coupon offers from top brands such as Betty Crocker, Fiber One, Pillsbury, Yoplait and more.

Access to the Shortcuts.com coupons is also available through Shortcuts.com Mobile, which enables shoppers the convenience of loading coupons onto their store savings cards while on the go. From their cell phones or smart phones,1 users simply click on the coupons they want and within minutes of selection, the coupons are ready for use on the shoppers’ grocery store savings cards.

Consumers have made Shortcuts.com the no. 1 direct-to-card electronic coupon site,2 reaching more than 1.3 million unique visitors each month, according to May 2009 comScore Media Metrix data. The number of Americans using online coupons rose 39 percent to 36 million between 2005 and 2008 and online coupon usage is up 56 percent year over year.3 Meanwhile, 58 percent of consumers favor electronic coupons delivered directly to their store loyalty cards.4

About Shortcuts.com
Shortcuts.com, a free service of AOL, is a completely paperless electronic coupon program linked to store savings cards. Shortcuts.com makes it easy for consumers to save on the products they buy every week without the hassle of paper coupons. For more on Shortcuts.com, visit http://www.shortcuts.com.

For more on Safeway, visit http://www.safeway.com.

1 Cell phone data plan required. Carrier charges may apply.
2 Custom AOL-defined Direct-to-Card Electronic Coupon category: Shortcuts, Cellfire.com, pgesaver.com, gianteagle.com, lowesfoods.com, based on comScore Media Metrix Audience Duplication report (May 2009)
3 Hitwise, July 2008
4 ICOM Survey, April 2008