Mobile commerce is growing, to almost nobody's surprise, up to about 11 percent of all retail e-commerce transaction value in the first quarter of 2013, up from eight percent, year over year. Perhaps the more surprising argument is that offers and coupons play a role in that growth.
Coupons and offers from firms such as Groupon had been derided as an unworkable business model over the past year or two. But some now would argue that successful coupon campaigns can help e-retailers acquire customers and drive online sales.
By 2014 the number of mobile coupon users is expected to increase to 53.2 million a year. At roughly 10 percent, the redemption rate of mobile coupons vastly outperforms the redemption rate of print coupons, which typically is about one percent.
Mobile coupon efforts also Increase offline sales and foot traffic to physical stores. Because they are received on phones but often redeemed offline, coupons are a perfect medium for retailers to acquire consumer data.
Coupons are essentially just another channel through which to communicate with consumers. It's useful to think of coupons less as a discounting vehicle, and more a piece of content with an offer appended.
As usual, most of those benefits flow to parts of the mobile ecosystem other than the access providers or handset suppliers. But those new values increase the value of the mobile ecosystem.
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