Costcutter's TV advertising campaign will be on air for more than half of next year, with 10 three-week bursts of activity scheduled for 2011.

The new campaign, still featuring Darren Gough as the face of Costcutter, kicks off in late January. An extra burst has been scheduled for late November this year, which could see Costcutter's advertising going head-to-head against Nisa's first-ever TV campaign, on air at the same time.

Costcutter has made a further drive for customer engagement with the rollout of a loyalty card programme. The scheme, which has been tested in 20 stores, will be free to all users of the group's C-pos system, and shopper rewards have been structured so they account for no more than 1% of retailers' gross profit.

The group is also expanding its own-brand range with 50 skus being added to the existing 101. Consumers will also be targeted by email shots featuring money-off vouchers through retailers in the group's 5 Star scheme.

Further developments include an entry-level epos system, C-pos Lite, for a cost of £4,000 and the launch of The Costcutter Academy training programme.