Bratislava, November 30, 2009
Customers of the Hypernova and Albert stores now have a greater chance of protecting the environment by registering in the new electronic flyers system. Ahold Retail Slovakia, the operator of the Hypernova and Albert retail chains, expects a significant proportion of customers will eventually opt for the e-flyer that provides information on discounts and all current and special sales offers. According to Albert/Hypernova’s spokesperson Diana Chovancová-Stanková, the company made this decision in line with its long-term goal to decrease the use of paper and protect the forests. “We want to motivate our customers to choose the e-flyer rather than the paper version. We believe the customers will help us in our cause and will gradually prefer this type of communication,” she explained. Current surveys show customers make their shopping decisions very often on the basis of offers from flyers. Thus, an easily available and comprehensible e-flyer will not only positively influence the environment, but will also help customers make their shopping economically.
Some 1,900 Hypernova and approximately 500 Albert customers have already signed up for the e-flyer. Anyone interested in receiving the e-flyer can register at www.hypernova.sk and www.ialbert.sk. D. Chovancová-Stanková emphasised that registration is very simple and does not require any personal information. Customers simply agree to receiving the e-flyer on a email address of their choice. Unsubscribing from the mailing list at any time is just as simple.
Albert/Hypernova is putting out a 24-page, weekly flyer about special offers and new products. Each such issue consumes approximately 34 tons of paper, which is the weight equivalent of one and a half trucks. Since 13 grown spruce trees are needed to produce 1 ton of paper, 442 of them are felled each week, thus almost 23,000 trees every year. Environmental protection is one of the key pillars of Albert/Hypernova’s social responsibility strategy.
“We want to conduct our business in an effective way, and certainly not at the expense of the environment,” said the company’s spokesperson. In the past, Albert/Hypernova introduced several measures that contributed to decreased consumption of energy and emissions of greenhouse gasses. Albert/Hypernova was the first retail company in Slovakia to have stopped giving out free plastic bags and is now selling them, thus preventing their excessive and meaningless overuse. Thanks to this decision, the number of used plastic bags was cut down by over a half. In addition, this year Albert/Hypernova remodelled its stores and started using new, energetically more efficient cooling devices.