PBT in 100 Chicagoland Jewel Osco's

Jewel Osco has launched Pay by Touch in 100 stores in Chicagoland and Indiana. Pay by Touch is now in all 23 Chicago locations as well as 77 suburban locations, including Munster and Hammond, Indiana wants me, Lord I can't go back there. ( 30 second audio sample )

Jewel Osco is the Chicagoland banner for Albertson's which was recently acquired by Supervalu. Albertson's piloted PBT in Portland, Oregon and had agreed to roll out PBT to their locations. Supervalu had also agreed to roll out PBT and has completed installations at their Cub Foods in Minnesota and Chicago, along with biggs, Farm Fresh and Hornbachers locations. Too bad Supervalu didn't purchase Safeway. What is Safeway waiting for? Everyone I've talked to at Cub Foods says their customers really enjoy "paying by touch" And the money Safeway would save would be enoromous. The data is in. Are they waiting until PBT launches it's "Personalized Marketing Loyalty Platform?" Maybe...then again maybe they should change their name from Safeway to Safe n' Sorry.

For a complete list of Jewel Osco locations installed with Pay by Touch, please click the link below:

http://www.jewelosco.com/eCommerceWeb/SaveAction.do?action=beginPBT&target=pbtStoreListPage


PAY BY TOUCH SCORES A SUPERVALU JEWEL:

Pay By Touch biometric readers are being used at the point of sale at a grocery and drug store chain that dominates the Chicago market and the northern Midwest. Jewel-Osco, operator of 204 combination grocery and drug stores and 77 freestanding drug stores in four Midwestern states, rolled out the Pay By Touch reader on Friday, sources tell CardLine.

A Pay By Touch spokesperson declined to discuss the Jewel implementation but said it is testing its program in the Portland, OR area in four stores owned by Albertsons Inc., Jewel's current parent. Pay By Touch has been a presence in the Midwest since last October when Cub Foods launched the program at 89 stores in three states (CardLine 10/13/05).

Grocery giant SuperValu Inc. currently owns Cub and is scheduled later this year to buy Jewel and other food operations of Albertsons. SuperValu joined with drug store chain CVS Corp., and an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management LP to pay $17.4 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt for Albertsons, a grocery chain with 2,500 stores in 37 states. Under the deal, SuperValu will acquire 1,124 grocery and combo-stores operating under the Jewel, Osco, Bristol Farms, Shaw's, Star Markets and Albertsons names; CVS will acquire about 700 stores; and the Cerberus group will buy 655 stores. Cerberus also will buy 26 Cub Stores in the Chicago area from SuperValu. Eden Prairie, MN-based SuperValu last year generated sales of $19.5 billion at 1,530 stores in 40 states. According to Hoovers Inc., SuperValu will operate 2,650 stores after the purchase.

Consumers enroll in the Pay By Touch program by registering a fingerprint and linking it to a checking account. To pay, the enrolled consumer places his finger on top of the Pay By Touch reader. If approved, the consumer also must input their 7 digit (no area code) phone number.