Shoppers Drug Mart has taken to discounting stamps to increase traffic in its stores.

On the front page of the Oct. 4-7 Shoppers Drug Mart flyer a package of 10 45-cent Canada Post stamps was advertised for $4.29 each.

Arthur Konviser, spokesperson for Toronto-based Shoppers Drug Mart, says since the loss of tobacco revenues in its stores, the national discount retailer has had to find new and creative ways to bring consumers into stores.

‘Stamps are a retail product, and a convenience for our customers, and we’re in the discount business,’ Konviser says.

‘Here was a product that our customers need and want, and if you have discounts on health and beauty products, there’s really no reason why, as a special promotion, we didn’t offer a discount on stamps,’ he says.

This summer, Shoppers Drug Mart tested the discount on stamps in Quebec and says it was a success.

Konviser says it is hard to determine, in a flyer of about 200 products how much traffic the stamp discount has created to date.

He says there is also a cross-merchandising opportunity in that consumers can buy their Christmas cards and stamps at Shoppers Drug Mart.

Meanwhile, Canada Post has launched a limited edition package of 10, 45-cent stamps, sponsored by ytv. The stamps feature Canadian cartoon heros such as Superman.

The back of the package also carries details about the specialty tv network’s SuperHero Search contest in which entrants create their own cartoon hero.

The winner will have his or her creation made into a comic.