Read and interesting article in MediaPost about "The Return Of The Sunday Circular" that talked about mobile applications for your cell phone that aggragate coupons much the same way the Sunday newspaper used to. Interesting, but it got me thinking about what other mediums that might work with....
"We are getting there. While individual brands are maintaining direct relationships with consumers to drive coupons to the phone, the coupon aggregators are reviving the old Sunday circular model and weekly "Clipper" circular for the phone. Cellfire started the model years ago by trying to aggregate vendors like Hollywood Video and Sears into a single couponing app. When it started I was critical of a model that required users to access a downloadable app that contained a limited and seemingly arbitrary range of coupons. Deck distribution and vendor partnerships always seemed to be the chokepoints. But now that the open app marketplace has proliferated, that Sunday circular model makes more sense.
On the iPhone I have downloaded and played around with several coupon aggregators. Cellfire remains a disappointment to me for its narrow coverage of vendors and underwhelming interface. Basically the app sorts and saves offers, forwards to a friend, and tracks the number of times you use the coupon.
To be fair, Cellfire seems to be targeting the grocery store market, and many of its partners seem to be outside my area. There is a very cool aspect to the grocery model. Cellfire lets me save the offer to a Safeway member card so that it will show up at the register when my store card is swiped. This method is not as cumbersome as rifling through all of one's mobile coupons at checkout.
The well-publicized Yowza couponing app (A "Heroes" cast member is involved) has a cooler interface but also suffers from limited vendor involvement. I got three stores in my 15-mile radius (Pier 1, Sears and SportsAuthority). The listings are more attractive than Cellfire's, but the same functionality is here. I get a link to a map as well as direct-dial to the nearest store. However, it's all pretty basic stuff, and its utility is entirely contingent on the partnerships, which still seem sparse.
Coupon Sherpa tries to solve the problem of limited vendor cooperation by aggregating Internet coupons that are relevant to your area. So this app actually lists scores of local offerings from the Web. It does a fair job of geo-locating the relevant stores but it pops me over to the Safari Web browser to access the coupon. This is much less convenient than having the coupon in the app itself. All I can do is save the store for later reference. What I gain in coupon coverage I lose in usability and convenience."
As I am working on a Community Web Portal with the stations I work with, they have thought of offering coupons and will grow into that segment over time, they also want to offer space to the "circulars" that are inserted into the paper. They are offered as PDF's that your audience can view and print as they like which you could cast a "green" branding to and still service that segment. To let you know how popular paper couponing has become, a newspaper in Nampa is owing a lot of it's subscription growth to a deal they struck with "www.athriftymom.com" that teaches consumers to make the most of coupons and store offers to cut their grocery bill in half or even into a third and get more for your money. There is no reason Broadcast and Interactive could not be a part of that consumer solution.