Coupons Work in this Economy

A weak economy presents challenges to all marketers. How do we do more with less? How do we sell things to people, or companies, who can’t afford them?

But sometimes, this type of economic environment presents unique opportunities for direct marketers. After all, our results are measurable. Marketing costs can be justified by clear, countable results.

This point is highlighted pretty nicely in this recent NY Times article: This Season’s Must-Have: The Humble Coupon

From the article:

The faltering economy could mean renewed interest in coupons as shoppers refocus
on the cost of the products they buy — that is, if they do actually buy anything
these days.

Coupons that offer cents off — or percents off — the price of things like groceries, clothing and restaurant meals are particularly popular when consumers need to stretch their dollars. So word that a recession began last December could bring an increase in the number of coupons offered by marketers, as well as redemption rates by consumers.

“Thrift is the new normal,” said Lance Saunders, executive vice president and head of account planning at Campbell Mithun in Minneapolis, an agency owned by the Interpublic Group of Companies.

“There’s no stigma to getting anything on discount,” Mr. Saunders said. “Instead, there’s a sense of pride.”

The article goes on to discuss unique couponning strategies, from some unusual suspects (high end Lucky Jeans, for example) and more usual suspects (P&G).

It also discusses the use of new marketing channels such as mobile marketing.

New technologies are also helping to renew interest in coupons, especially
for younger consumers. There are scores of Web sites where coupons can be
obtained by clicking rather than clipping; among them are coupons.com,
couponcabin.com, couponcode.com, couponmom.com, 8coupons.com, fatwallet.com and shortcuts.com. Many also deliver coupons by e-mail messages.

And coupons are increasingly available on cellphones and other mobile
devices from companies like Cellfire and Outalot. Among the marketers offering
mobile coupons are Arby’s, Caribou Coffee and GameStop.

An advantage of coupons delivered through new technologies is that they can
be customized and personalized, which could help make them more effective
and efficient for the sponsors.

Ah, trackable, customized and personalized—music to this direct marketer’s ears!

Another lesson learned: even if your marketing strategy has never included couponning, simply because it didn’t seem to be the right fit for your products and/or your customer-base, you may want to rethink that strategy in this economy.

Case Study: Walgreens and Behavioral Targeting

It's pretty tough right now to be a retailer. The economy is limping along. The Walmarts of the world are bringing prices down and changing customer expectations every day.

Smart retailers need to use all of the tools at their disposal to get more customers and sell more stuff. This article about Walgreen's coupon strategies, brought to us by DM News caught my eye: Walgreens' in-store BT strategy hits the mark.

Background
Walgreens is using behavioral tar­geting to engage customers in its stores.

The nation's largest drugstore chain has partnered with Catalina Marketing to print targeted coupons in its 6,000 stores, which are given to customers based on their purchasing behaviors, as they receive their receipts. Catalina runs in-store pro­motions in about 25,000 grocery stores and 14,000 pharmacies nationwide.

Strategy
Walgreens' overall strategy is to lever­age consumer data more effectively, which Doug Egan, VP of marketing services and research for the company, said has ramped up in the last six months.

“[It's] part of a larger understanding that purchasing behavior can be changed in-store,” he said. “Truly, the trackability of it is great. We can track purchases by store, time of day and even register.”

Walgreens' marketing spend is still dominated by its circular — 60 million per week — and by direct mail.

Results
Egan said that in-store promotions, cur­rently accounting for 10% of Walgreens' marketing spend, are growing, thanks to the success of the Catalina promotions.

“What we've heard from customers is that they are useful,” he said.

Average Walgreens stores see between 800 and 1,000 customers per day and print Catalina coupons for about 10% to 12% of them. About 6% of those printed are redeemed at a future date, said Egan.

The goal of using Catalina coupons or behavior targeting overall is to expand the consumer's shopping basket, said Egan.

“The average purchase, not counting pharmacy, is three to four items per store visit, and two store visits a month. We want to add a trip a month,” he said. “It's great to see data of what a customer is purchasing in real-time. You can then offer related programs. If they purchase two twelve-packs of Pepsi, we can target them with a coupon for a dollar off of three twelve-packs. You can see what customers purchase consistently.”

Interesting case study, no?

Back in June, I blogged about couponning and put forth this challenge to direct marketers: How do you track exactly who is redeeming your coupon, without making this cumbersome to the consumer? In Walgreen's case, they know what products people are purchasing, but I still can't see where they have a handle on the make-up of what buyers look like.

It would be so much more powerful if you could flesh out purchase behavior with other things known about the consumer, wouldn't it?

Then, you could begin true database marketing and really start to delight your customers--with offers tailored specifically to a customers' specific needs and situation. You'd not only have the knowledge that a specific customer enjoys Pepsi over Coke, but if you knew, for example, that that customer has a large family and likes to go camping, you could customize the Pepsi offer to include a propane tank or other camping gear. Now, we're talking about a much larger shopping cart (more revenue), and a satisfied customer who leaves the store happy that they've gotten a great deal, not only on Pepsi but on gear for an activity they love.

I would love to see retailing move in this direction, wouldn't you?