Coupons are a staple promotion tactic for consumer packaged good marketers and retailers. Despite a seemingly miserable redemption rate of between 1-2%, coupons are important because they provide consumers an incentive to purchase a product. Hopefully, the purchase made with a coupon will lead to future purchases made without a coupon. Couponing has become more challenging as a prime distribution method, free standing inserts (FSIs) in newspapers, have been hurt by declining readerships. Online coupons have yet to catch on a broad scale. However, that might change if a new online coupon distribution method gains traction.
A service from Coupons, Inc. called Brandcaster will serve coupons contextually on web sites. For example, a magazine article that discusses different varieties of coffee could include a link to a coupon for Folgers or some other brand of coffee. This approach to online coupons seems to be a more effective way to reach consumers than coupon destination web sites like coolsavings.com or coupons.com. Consumers are looking for ways to trim their rising grocery bills, so the timing of the Brandcaster service is good. And, the linkage of coupons to web content that is of interest to the reader makes targeting of coupons more effective than can be achieved in FSIs.
Link: DMNews – “General Mills Others Try Contextual Online Coupons”
