Canadian food and drug retailer Metro Inc. has joined the retail network of prepaid card and payment solutions provider InComm.
Plans call for Metro to roll out a prepaid product and payments program this summer across its Ontario and Quebec store banners, Atlanta-based InComm said yesterday. Besides retailer gift cards and cash cards, InComm provides card and digital payment technology — including touchless payments — and incentive solutions.
The agreement expands InComm’s 14-year partnership with drug chain Jean Coutu Group, which Montreal-based Metro acquired in May 2018. Along with the 415 Jean Coutu drugstores InComm now serves, the payments company said it will work with 704 Metro retail food stores and affiliate banners to offer shoppers a range of open- and closed-loop prepaid products plus innovative payment solutions.
“The growth in sales and the success of the programs developed in Jean Coutu Group pharmacies over the last few years, combined with the efficiency of its systems, now make InComm the ideal partner to ensure the growth and deployment of innovative payment solution programs for our customers in our grocery stores,” Serge Boulanger, senior vice president of national procurement and corporate brands at Metro, said in a statement.
Overall, Metro’s retail network encompasses about 950 food stores under the Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, Food Basics and other banners in Quebec and Ontario, as well as 650 drugstores, mainly under the Jean Coutu, Brunet, Metro Pharmacy and Food Basics Pharmacy banners.
“Over the course of our partnership with Jean Coutu, we have developed a best-in-class prepaid program tailored to the Jean Coutu shoppers’ preferences, offering a rich product catalog with ongoing promotional added-value offerings,” according to Frank Juliano, senior vice president of international at InComm. “We look forward to expanding our partnership to Metro and its many banners, creating a program specific to their consumer needs and preferences.”
InComm said its prepaid mall program will be deployed to Metro stores and affiliate banners over the rest of the summer. In addition, Metro stores will get access to a suite of services to support the rollout and execution of the prepaid program across all channels, InComm added. Customers will be able to choose from gifting options, financial services products, and prepaid payments options to fund their preferred accounts.
“We are delighted to have been selected as Metro’s exclusive prepaid and payments provider, expanding upon our longstanding and successful partnership with Jean Coutu,” InComm President Stefan Happ stated.
