Catalina Marketing’s Sales Receipt Coupons to Show Up in Drugstores : Expansion: Targeted promotions formerly confined to supermarkets will now be issued at 20 outlets in the state.

Beginning next month, when you pick up a tube of mascara at the drugstore, you might find on the back of your receipt a discount coupon for nail polish or lipstick.

Catalina Marketing Corp., which provides electronic promotion services to supermarkets, said Wednesday that it will expand its program into drugstores. Initially, a total of 20 outlets will offer the coupons to their customers--eight Thriftys in Orange County and another two in Los Angeles County, as well as 10 Longs stores in Northern California.

The company’s patented scanner technology enables manufacturers to distribute coupons to shoppers based on their specific purchases--instantly generating discounts for the same, related or competing merchandise. The scanners are installed in more than 5,600 supermarkets throughout the country.

“We think that our move into drugstores offers a tremendous opportunity for us to attract new clientele in the health and beauty industry,” said Joseph P. Proctor, Catalina’s chief financial officer.

Catalina Marketing is based in Anaheim, but the company announced plans in January to relocate its headquarters to the Southeast later this year--taking along 60 of its 80 Orange County employees. Proctor said Wednesday that the company will announce its destination city within the next few weeks.

Brian E. Stack, an analyst with the brokerage Robertson Stephens in Boston, said that Catalina Marketing’s expansion to drugstores “will be very positive for the company.”

“Catalina could add as many as 6,000 drugstore outlets to its network, essentially doubling its number of retail outlets,” Stack said.

Catalina Marketing stock closed Wednesday at $34, up 25 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.