Cut it out: U.S. stores may kill coupon clutter.

This article focuses on the potential adoption of the one-to-one grocery marketing programs in the U.S., considering the success in this arena of British grocery retailer Tesco. The chain's widely lauded in-store kiosk program and Clubcard developed with sophisticated database marketing tools managed by Dunnhumby, an international customer management specialist, allows customers to insert their club cards and receive customized coupons. And it has many U.S.-based grocers eager to sign on. Where they have failed to win against Wal-Mart, Tesco has more than held its own against Wal-Mart's Asda division-so much so that Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott even asked the British government to scrutinize the chain's 30 percent market share in 2004. Jon Hauptman, vice president of Willard Bishop Consulting, a Chicago-based firm focused on the grocery industry, said widespread adoption of this kind of technology is a long way off. After all, the budget spent on trade promotion is focused not on building shopper loyalty for retailers, but to consumer brands. Shifting this prevailing mind-set requires consumer package-goods companies to give up even more control over that spending.