Integration into loyalty programmes critical for future growth
There will be over one mobile coupon users by 2019, up from just under 560 million this year, a new study shows today.
A new report from Juniper Research has found that that mobile coupon usage will hit 1.05 billion five years from now. Juniper claims that the surge in user numbers will in large part be driven by increased retailer engagement with the various mobile channels.
It states that retailers are now integrating coupons into loyalty programmes to a far greater extent, while focusing on delivering coupons direct to consumers rather than relying on aggregator sites.
At the same time, the report observes that mobile coupon deployments are benefitting from retailers restructuring their businesses to reflect the wider transition to the utilisation of online engagement channels. It notes those businesses are becoming more agile, more efficient and able to implement change more rapidly than would have previously been the case.
Meanwhile, the report argues that while the use of MMS for couponing is expected to cease, disruptive technologies such as near field communications (NFC) and Beacon had the potential to boost in-store engagement in the medium term.
According to report author Dr Windsor Holden: 'While NFC has failed to achieve traction thus far, the emergence of a cloud-based secure element through host card emulation (HCE) is likely to stimulate greater integration into wallets. We believe that this in turn will provide the visibility that should encourage brands to run campaigns using the technology.
Additionally, geotargeting has provided SMS-delivered coupons with a new lease of life, with retailers seeing high redemption rates from coupons pushed to consumers near their stores.
However, a lack of adequate point of sale redemption technology remains the key hurdle to greater deployment and adoption, Juniper says.
