Digital Coupons on the Rise

Sep 29, 2009•Blog Posts• by author

Scott M.

Now, even coupons are going digital — and mobile.

Did you take part in the recent Starbucks marketing campaign that promoted their new all-natural pastries? If you did, you probably know that one of the ways to redeem your free pastry on the selected day was to show a coupon to the cashier from your mobile phone. This is just one example of how almost everything is going digital, making our mobile phones play huge a role in our everyday lives.

According to research from Scarborough Research, more than 8.6 million American households currently receive coupons via text message or email. While this is still only about 8 percent of the total American households, the numbers are on the rise. With the slip of newspaper usage and the rise of the number of American families who have complete Internet access at home, there is a perfect opportunity for digital coupons to flourish – and marketers are certainly taking note. There are even applications available now for mobile phones that allow you to keep your customer loyalty and rewards cards on your phone. The UPC symbols are saved and can be scanned at the cashier, eliminating the need for a plastic card.

The data from Scarborough shows us that those who obtain digital coupons are 14 percent more likely to be young adults, ages 18-24. They are also 51 percent more likely to be college graduates or have an advanced degree and six percent more likely to be female. Other research from Platform-A and Information Resources Inc. found that young couples without children are more likely to use online coupons, followed by couples with young children. This research also found that 4 out of 10 consumers would be very likely to use online coupons if they don’t already.

Of course, the older the consumer, the more likely they are to clip coupons from the newspaper. However, younger generations are on the rise, and mobile and internet use is skyrocketing, so we’re likely to see this digital coupon use continue to grow.