Skip to main content

Coupons Are Back --- In What Way?

After 17 years of decline, consumers use more coupons in 2009 than they did a year ago. Probably because of the recession, consumers redeemed 3.3 billion out of a total of 367 billion coupons, a 27% increase from 2008’s 2.6 billion. Even though “traditional newspaper inserts are still the prime territory for bargain hunters” (newspaper distributed 89% of coupons; more than 50% of them were redeemed), online coupon increased 92%. In particular, one out of five (1/5) people have cashed online coupons they received. Overall, coupon users can be describes as women (60%) and those of 25 – 34 years old, followed by those of 45 or older.

Another research found that more and more cell-phone users are interested in receiving special offers through cell-phone apps and text-messaging programs. There are several free mobile apps available, such as Yowza, MobiQpons, and Cellfire, allowing customers to search businesses with special offers. Believe it or not, some of these apps are very effective. Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill, a restaurant chain in the West Coast, used Yowza and saw 4% redemption rate on cell-phone coupons, 4 times more effective compared to direct mail and newspaper coupons.

We have seen many hotels and restaurants started using cell-phone apps in operations (you may read relevant discussion via http://linchikwok.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-will-iphone-travel-apps-change-our.html). For example, hotels in Las Vegas launched an iPhone app last month so that they can send messages with special offers to the customers passing by.

In conclusion, we see coupons are coming back, but online and cell-phone add coupons have become more and more important. Hotels and restaurants can definitely distribute their promotion messages through Internet and cell phones. However, decision makers need to be very careful not to annoy their customers by “dumping” adds to their e-mails or cell phones. Probably, it would be better and more effective to reach the target customers by making online and cell-phone app coupons available to those customers who “look for” great deals. What do you think? Also, if you have tried “coupon” apps, what was your experience?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Luxury vs. Millennials and Their Technology: The Ritz-Carlton (By Julia Shorr)

Embodying the finest luxury experience, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC has been established since 1983. In 1998, Marriott International purchased the brand offering it more opportunity for growth while being independently owned and operated. They are known for their enhanced service level as the motto states, “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen”. The luxury brand now carries 97 hotels and resorts internationally and is attempting to keep the aspects of luxury while keeping up with the trends of the technologically improving generations. The Varying Demographics of the Target Market The Ritz-Carlton’s typical target market includes: business executives, corporate, leisure travelers, typically middle-aged persons and elders, and families from the upper and upper-middle class section of society .   This infers a large range of types of travelers in which all are similar in that they are not opposed to spending extra for the luxurious ambiance. However, with

The challenges of SB 93 (California Senate Bill No. 93) will impose on the employers and their human resource management team (by Brittany Schaffer)

The COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020, and it has caused massive changes within a short period of time. One of the most rememberable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was that businesses had to come to a complete halt, forcing them to lay off employees. California's unemployment rates went up.  Now that the stay-at-home orders have lifted, people start to come out. Businesses are now reopening, looking to rehire their laid-off employees. Before the pandemic, employers had the option of recalling only a certain number of laid-off employees they would want to rehire based on employees' job performance. That option had been changed after Governor Gavin Newsome signed into law - Senate Bill 93, which went into effect on April 16th, 2021. The California Senate Bill No. 93 (SB 93) According to SB 93, companies in specific industries, mainly the hospitality industry, have the obligation to provide job opportunities in written form to qualified employees being laid off due to COVI

Want to win in future competitions? Invest in data-driven decisions now

Speaking of the permanent changes in the hospitality industry, many people will probably agree that demands for “bleisure”/“work-from-anywhere” travel and contactless self-service will continue to grow in the near future. Not everyone, however, realizes that data-driven decisions will become a key driver for growth in the industry, which has already affected how we do business now.   Automatic service enables businesses to capture more operational and consumer data for business decisions   One advantage of using automatic service comes from its ability to spontaneously capture and store real-time operational and consumer data for additional analysis. In the old-time when businesses still relied on workers to serve customers, operational data were collected usually through careful book-keeping, documentations, and observations; consumer data through market research were often limited to their perceptions, behavioral intentions, or past experience.     Now that automatic service is provi