With the rapid rise of online coupons and the companies and publishers associated with them, one question that comes to mind, is should there be a Coupon Trade Show?
The Association of Coupon Professionals does have an annual Industry Coupon Conference. However this tends to more of an operational event focusing on barcodes and coupon clearing with only a few brands and retailers attending. What's missing are the publishers, advertising agencies and a consumer focus.
Other Internet marketing and advertising shows such as Affiliate Summit and adtech tend to only have a small component devoted to coupons.
So what do you think? Have we reached critical mass? If so, should a coupon show piggyback on an existing trade show or would you prefer to see a dedicated coupon trade show?
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Retailers Should Offer Coupons to Boost Self Checkout
I was waiting on line at the Supermarket last week and noticed most people were not using the self checkout. In fact the line was 3 or 4 deep at the cashier checkouts, while only 2 of the 4 self checkouts were being used. While many grocery retailers have invested heavily in self checkout to reduce labor costs, they don't appear to have thought out a good marketing plan to get consumers to use them. From a consumer point of view, yes you can sometimes save time if the regular lines are pretty long or if you only have a few items, but it's more work than a regular check out. How about rewarding the consumer who uses the self checkout?
If the retailers are really saving on labor costs, why not use a portion of the savings to incentivize the consumer to use the self checkout by offering coupons to those who use it? This would significantly increase the percentage of customers who use the self checkout, further reducing costs. In fact, you could even have brands chip in some dollars for sponsorship (for example use the self checkout this week and get a 50 cent coupon for Chip Ahoy cookies that you can use on your next shopping trip). Another option would be to tie it to the store loyalty card - i.e. Use self checkout 5 times this month and get double points all next month.
What are your thoughts?
If the retailers are really saving on labor costs, why not use a portion of the savings to incentivize the consumer to use the self checkout by offering coupons to those who use it? This would significantly increase the percentage of customers who use the self checkout, further reducing costs. In fact, you could even have brands chip in some dollars for sponsorship (for example use the self checkout this week and get a 50 cent coupon for Chip Ahoy cookies that you can use on your next shopping trip). Another option would be to tie it to the store loyalty card - i.e. Use self checkout 5 times this month and get double points all next month.
What are your thoughts?
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