Category Archives: mobile coupons

How Mobile Coupons Can Drive Sales

The mobile device has rapidly become the most widely used technology in the world. It has become so key to people’s lives that for the first time in 2015, time spent on mobile phones surpassed time spent on desktop and laptop computers. This evolution of mobile phones and mobile apps has made the lives of consumers and marketers a lot easier and much more convenient. And as retailers, mobile app development companies and marketers are putting effort into finding ways to improve mobile programs; one of the easiest and best ways for them to get the most out of mobile offerings in 2016 is to use mobile coupons.

Mobile is turning out to be a crucial tool in the consumer’s shopping process.

Mobile is turning out to be a crucial tool in the consumer’s shopping process. | Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns (Flikr)

Mobile is turning out to be a crucial tool in the consumer’s shopping process. When a consumer wants a product or service, he or she embarks on a path to purchase. They use mobile devices all along the purchase path – from product discovery to coupon redemption to post purchase engagement.

As we all know, millennials, as a generation, are typically more impatient than previous generations. They want what they want when they want it. In other words, they expect to get nearly anything and everything brought right to their doorstep as fast as logistically possible. And when it comes to coupons their priorities aren’t different. Retailers should never underestimate the need to offer coupons on consumers’ smartphones.

How has mobile changed couponing?

More than 56% of consumers say they research their purchases online before buying in a store, according to a new research by eMarketer. Millennials like to research products, discover deals, find stores and read reviews online. They also use their mobile devices to check and compare prices in real time. And most retailers are now able to insert an offer or price to a shopper whilst they are considering a purchase, which has also proved to be a game changer for their businesses.

How mobile coupons can drive retail sales

Many retailers still rely on their physical stores to drive sales and customer loyalty. With that said, whether online or in-store, consumers expect in-store prices to be the same as online prices and today, consumers expect good deals when they shop. Consumers, particularly millennials, want offers and good deals as long as they do not have the usual hassle of paper coupons. They want their coupons to be easy to redeem. Making mobile coupons easy to redeem is not only beneficial to consumers, but to retailers.

Therefore, if you are running a retail business, it is always a good idea to build a fully functional couponing strategy into your mobile app. The ability to access coupons directly on smartphone can make the process a lot more efficient and improve sales.

Pic:  http://bit.ly/298gcgy

Shopping Popularity Advances on Mobile Devices

According to new report from Usablenet, most smartphone owners are reaching out with their smartphone to shop, and not to talk. Over three-quarters (79 percent) of American shoppers and two-thirds (64 percent) of British shoppers are using smartphones for browsing and shopping via both websites and mobile apps.

Looking deeper at the report we find that 70 percent of American shoppers have their mobile phone while shopping in-store and that a full 30 percent of US shoppers report that they use those mobiles to get a better in-store shopping experience. Additionally it is reported that 77 percent of American shoppers prefer browsing via their smartphone but buy using a tablet or computer. Not surprisingly, most American shoppers do not bring tablets into stores with them (78 percent).

“Right now, we are seeing retail shoppers regularly using their mobile devices to check all sorts of store and product related information while they are shopping” states Kimber Johnson, Pacific App Design’s Managing Director. “Currently there is a massive opportunity for retailers to integrate mobile with their in-store experience and we are seeing savvy businesses taking advantage of this opportunity.”

To better appeal to mobile shoppers, Usablenet suggests that retailers should focus making it simple to buy online, or in-store, by expediating check-outs and making it quick and easy to find about product availability or other product data.

Mobile Coupon Use Explodes

Along with the meteoric growth of mobile devices, mobile applications and mobile web sites, we are seeing explosive growth of the use of mobile coupons. This is no surprise at all since delivering a coupon right to a device that a customer carries all day is a dream come true for many marketers. A recent study by BI Intelligence details just how hot mobile coupons have become recently and more importantly, they show just how well they work.

The amount of money spent on retail that is generated from mobile is estimated to top 15 percent of retail e-commerce by the end of 2013. Looking back to 2010 when mobile commerce accounted for just 3 percent of e-commerce we see just how impressive this growth has been. At the end of 2012, the amount spent on retail e-commerce via mobile was 11 percent (according to comScore), which equals a massive $18.6 billion in consumer spending.

The rise in  mobile commerce was bound to happen if you look at the massive smart phone adoption rates. Along with this we see that the number of American smart phone users that are using mobile coupons is a significant 29.5 million users, which is a big step up from 2010 when we saw just 7.4 million American consumers using mobile coupons. Over the course of the next year and a half we are expecting this to grow to 47.1 million users by the end of 2014 (BI Intelligence report).

One interesting item to arise from BI’s research is that we are seeing that demographics that typically don’t use coupons are now starting to adopt their use due to the convenience of the coupon being on their smart phone. One of the demographics we are seeing big growth in mobile coupon use is with younger smart phone users. In a recent survey of college students we see that today 51 percent use their mobile device to “always” (20%) or “often” (31%) seek out money saving deals and coupons, while only 10% said they never do so. This is no surprise if you look at the high adoption rate of smart phones by this demographic. The BI Intelligence report states “For close to 50% of 12-17 year old smartphone owners, the smartphone is their primary internet access device. It follows that for younger consumers mobile commerce and buying via smartphones and tablets will be a habit and much less of a novelty than it is for older consumers”.

Coupled with recent research from Deloitte which shows that most (94%) consumers are cautious with their finances right now and with 92% saying they are choosing to be more resourceful with their spending we see tremendous opportunities when it comes to mobile coupons. One item that really stands out with mobile coupons is that they are experiencing much higher redemption rates with mobile (10% compared with print coupon rates of 1%). Additionally mobile coupons give the retailer the opportunity to receive demographic and other information for the coupon’s user. If for no other reason, the ability to learn consumer data will continue to drive mobile coupon growth.