Economy Boosting Prospects For Mobile Coupons

January 09, 2009 | Rick Mathieson

Juniper Research is reporting that the economy could very well boost use of mobile coupons upwards of 200 million people by 2013, according to RCR.

“We believe that consumers will be attracted to mobile coupons compared to traditional paper, and by the ability to tune the types of coupons received to their personal preferences rather than receiving all types through the vanilla distribution mode that is allowed by paper coupons,” Howard Wilcox of Juniper Research writes in a statement.

“Today, the overwhelming majority of coupons are paper-based, but the mobile phone is the ultimate individual marketing device, and mobile coupon pilots show great increased redemption rates — often double-digit percentages.”

The pub points to Cellfire as a leader in the space. We've covered the San Jose-based firm a lot here at BRANDING UNBOUND. The Kroger Co. trial we posted about saw a 20% redemption rate, which compares favorably to the 2% return typically seen with print coupons.

Why does that matter?

Because a.) the total value of coupons has to be reflected as a liability on balance sheets, regardless of whether they're ever redeemed and b.) most important of all, people spend far more than they otherwise would have when they redeem a coupon - often for a product they wouldn't normally buy, or on additional products when they go to the store.

“The sliver lining of a negative economy for Cellfire … is that consumers’ interest in savings and coupons has gone up considerably,” Cellfire CEO Brent Dusing told the pub last week. “So marketers are viewing coupons as a valuable way to reach customers. We see advertiser promotions budgets remaining relatively stable vis-à-vis other media and advertising.”