Almost three billion mobile coupons will be issued to mobile phone users by 2011, analyst firm Juniper Research has claimed.
Juniper Research said mobile coupons are becoming an increasingly important tool for brand owners and retailers to incentivise mobile marketing and advertising campaigns
The study found that the move to mobile coupons demonstrated cost savings on campaigns, an increase in ARPU, more one-to-one marketing opportunities, increased customer retention for mobile operators, higher conversion rates, more value-added services and reduced fraud.
Juniper noted some challenges for the sector, however, including a hesitancy from some retailers to adopt mobile coupons. In addition, some retailers would have to change from using laser scanners to optical readers to read barcodes, especially 2D barcodes from mobile phones.
The Juniper Research study also found that 2.6 billion mobile tickets would be delivered by 2011, amounting to sales of almost US$87bn, and that early use of mobile barcode technology will be gradually complemented by the emergence of NFC (near field communication).
Mobile coupons offer a number of distinct advantages over paper coupons, Juniper Research said, such as allowing the coupon issuer a direct connection between themselves and the consumer using the coupon.
By Niall Byrne
