Sainsbury’s has set up a new joint venture company, Insight 2 Communication (I2C), to allow suppliers to advertise across all of the retailer’s communication channels.

Sainsbury’s group development director Luke Jensen will be chairman of the new company, which it has set up with Aimia, owner of its Nectar programme.

Suppliers will be able to upload marketing materials and co-ordinate advertising for coupon-at-till, direct mail and media in and around stores, including car park advertising and in-store sampling, as well as email, magazine, mobile and online advertising using I2C’s systems.

The system will also allow Sainsbury’s to share shopper data with suppliers.

Aimia general manager David Buckingham has been appointed chief executive of I2C and will report to a board comprising Sainsbury’s group commercial director Mike Coupe, Jensen, Aimia president and chief executive David Johnston, and Peter Gleason, managing director of intelligent shopper solutions at Aimia.

Jensen said: “It’s a win-win for both customers and suppliers. This means more timely, relevant and accessible offers for customers based on their likes and dislikes, while brands benefit from an end-to-end insight based marketing solution and greater return on investment.”

Johnston said: “The launch of I2C is testament to the growing interest in shopper marketing, targeting customers in and around stores. Coupled with our data-driven approach, we believe I2C will deliver better experiences for shoppers and greater return on investment for brands, which will benefit from the integrated solution I2C offers.”

The move comes as Sainsbury’s launches its magazine as a digital edition, available to download from Apple’s Newsstand app.

Sainsbury’s also said it is to create 15,000 extra posts in store for Christmas, with 2,000 jobs likely to be made permanent. The positions will be across 1,000 stores.

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