While the fate of once mighty daily deal giants like Groupon remains unknown, the future remains very bright for mobile coupons.
As major retailers escalate their incorporation of mobile coupons into all facets of their marketing strategy, consumers have begun searching for coupons not only at home on their computer or mobile device, but when they’re actually shopping at bricks and mortar stores.
John Faith, senior vice president of external affairs at RetailMeNot Inc., tells Mobile Commerce Daily that “retailers have an opportunity to combat showrooming by reaching those consumers when they are engaged and ready to make a purchase.”
Faith’s high hopes and expectations for mobile coupons are corroborated by the latest data from comScore, which indicates that retail is the second fastest-growing content category today. And nearly one quarter of all smartphone owners have already used their device to search out and redeem a mobile coupon.
“The future of mobile couponing lies in ease of use for consumers and new controls and performance insight for merchants,” Faith says. “Merchants and coupon distributors are increasingly using multiple points of data from a mobile device to serve contextual coupon content to their audience.”
As targeted advertising improves in its precision and mobile loyalty programs increase in their sophistication, mobile coupons will likely reach heights well above today’s already impressive adoption rate.