A&P, Waldbaums, Super Fresh and The Food Emporium have introduced digital coupons available on mobile devices and on the Web.

The supermarket chains have launched digital coupons with Zavers' digital promotions platform. This program is available in their locations throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Connecticut and Delaware.

"For consumers, this represents a significant improvement because it allows them to save money, save time and save trees," said Anita Newton, chief marketing officer of Zavers, Kansas City, Kansas. "Especially when you step back and look at where coupons reside -- mainly in newspapers, this allows advertisers to target a new generation of online and mobile shoppers."

Zavers is a privately funded company with a platform aiming to link online and mobile incentive placement with in-store redemption.

Super Fresh, A&P, Waldbaums and The Food Emporium are all supermarkets under the The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The company has a variety of stores along the eastern seaboard from Connecticut to Maryland.

Waldbaums, A&P and Super Fresh have leveraged their Red Tag program to include this new digital coupon service. The Food Emporium is using their Fresh Savings program.

In store there are postings at the door, over the sound system, posters at checkout counters and the receipt will give the total Red Tag Online or Fresh Club Online savings. The in store circular will show consumers how to use the program and gives the total of how much they could save with online coupons.

Consumers can go online or to m.zavers.com on their mobile and download the coupons to their specific supermarket loyalty cards. The information about the coupons are stored on the card, so the discounts are taken when swiped at purchase.

"It's a strong benefit for people wanting to become eco-friendly," Ms. Newton said. "Only 1 percent of the paper coupons in the United States get redeemed, that's a small number of coupons. Paperless offer a great benefit for consumers who want to help the environment but don't want to spend money."

Ms. Newton said the majority of purchases are still done in supermarkets and having coupons accessed via mobile devices benefits the consumers and the brands.

"This technology allows consumers to access brand coupons and brands can engage with consumers at the moment of truth," she said. "It's a great way for them to save money and time in a medium they're used to."

By rooting the coupons in the loyalty card, the consumer does not have to change behavior. They are still swiping the card at checkout, but getting the discount from the coupons without much additional effort.

"Increasingly [supermarkets] know they have to do a better job to go online and over time mobile," Ms Newton said. "They're using this new program to get more web traffic and get more email to communicate with customers in user friendly fashion to target the new generation of shoppers."