Emerging Issues in Marketing – Week 6 Written Assignment
Consumers continue to feel the impact of difficult economic times, leading to their efforts to have alternative means to save costs on essential products. As a result, many shoppers have tried coupons as one of the effective cost-cutting measures. Marketers have taken advantage of the trend by introducing mobile coupons as convenient alternatives to the mails and print and point of purchase coupon pieces (Gray, 2009). The trend is also informed by the increase in mobile devices, especially phones, enabling companies to communicate directly with customers (Jayasingh & Eze, 2015; Khajehzadeh et al., 2015). Mobile couponing involves sending promotions and discounts on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets (Andrews et al., 2016). They are part of the digital and mobile revolution that introduced tools that affect consumer behavior and purchase decisions. When buying a good or service, consumers can exchange their mobile coupons for a financial discount or a rebate (Khelladi et al., 2021). Mobile couponing allows marketers to provide personalized and targeted services.
Mobile couponing use data and location-based services to target the right customers with a product or service. They use information such as consumers’ product preferences, contextual factors, and current locations to provide the coupons that customers can redeem at their convenience (Khajehzadeh et al., 2015). Previous research reveals that location-based mobile coupons increase the willingness of a customer to buy a product (Kim & Song, 2020). As a result, many retailers have integrated mobile couponing into their loyalty programs due to the high likelihood of redemption (Klede-Schnabel & Bug, 2016). The location provides hints to marketers regarding customer choices and interests founded on activities. For example, information about a regular purchase can be used by marketers to create relevant coupons. Since they provide a convenient shopping model, they are accepted and used due to coupon propensity and enjoyment (Gonzalez, 2016). Furthermore, the type of product determines the tendency to accept and redeem coupons. For instance, Khajehzadeh et al. (2015) established that consumers’ shopping motivation matters more for hedonic products, while location matters more for utilitarian products regarding coupon redemption intentions.
The fast-food industry is one of the sectors in which mobile couponing is best suited. The target customers in the sector are people on the move, causing marketers to provide a convenient medium to access their services (Banerjee & Yancey, 2010; Shankar et al., 2016). They deliver mobile coupons to their devices that customers can use anytime, anywhere. The nature of the customer plays a critical role in marketing and targeting. For example, Price et al. (1988) focus on the buying behavior of market mavens to determine their usage of mobile coupons. People with information about a product, place, and market are “smart shoppers.” They are also the leading users of the coupon as part of their budgeting and shopping decisions. Consequently, Omar et al. (2021) affirm that factors such as efficiency, fulfillment, responsiveness, and contact, inform smart shoppers’ decisions in mobile marketing. They use the information to inform future decisions, especially when satisfied with a product or coupon redemption.
Coupon redemption is an important factor in mobile couponing since marketers offer them the hope that customers will be willing to redeem and use them to purchase products. Thus, Bawa et al. (1997) focus on coupon promotion and precision targeting strategies to ensure that customers find them relevant to their buying decision and are willing to redeem them. Mittal (1994) took a similar perspective to review consumer redemption of grocery coupons. The author suggests the importance of understanding other factors that determine the tendency to redeem coupons since demographics might be inadequate in targeting promotional efforts. Marketers should integrate demographic factors, non-demographic consumer traits, and cost/benefit perceptions for effective decision-making.
The success of mobile couponing depends on the level of acceptance among consumers. Fuchs et al. (2017) elucidate that not all companies use mobile marketing success in the market. In the same light, Liu et al. (2015) provide some factors behind customers’ acceptance of mobile coupons, including perceived convenience, enjoyment, and money-saving advantage. Babakus et al. (1988) focused on three attitudinal dimensions that affect acceptance of coupons, price consciousness, time value, and satisfaction/pride. The factors motivate consumers to accept, use and redeem coupons.
However, customers’ decisions are negatively affected by perceived fees and privacy risks. Addressing the risk is important to ensure customer buy-in when introducing mobile coupons. Achadinha et al. (2014) suggest the need to understand factors, such as financial and convenience benefit, positive consumer attitudes, social benefit, and perceived control since they influence the possibility of a consumer redeeming their m-coupon. The factors reveal that the decision to redeem mobile coupons is not straightforward. According to Ashworth et al. (2005), some price deals, such as coupons, can cause negative social outcomes like causing an impression of stringiness or cheapness. The decision to redeem a coupon involves trade-offs between the social incentives and incentives to redeem. Thus, marketers should use mobile couponing cautiously to benefit from their redemption.
References
Achadinha, N. M. J., Jama, L., & Nel, P. (2014). The drivers of consumers’ intention to redeem a push mobile coupon. Behaviour & Information Technology, 33(12), 1306-1316.
Andrews, M., Goehring, J., Hui, S., Pancras, J., & Thornswood, L. (2016). Mobile promotions: A framework and research priorities. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 34, 15-24.
Ashworth, L., Darke, P.R., & Schaller, M. (2005). No one wants to look cheap: Trade-offs between social disincentives and the economic and psychological incentives to redeem coupons. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(4), 295-306.
Babakus, E., Tat, P., & Cunningham, W. (1988). Coupon redemption: A motivational perspective. The Journal of Consumer Marketing, 5(2), 37-43.
Banerjee, S., & Yancey, S. (2010). Enhancing mobile coupon redemption in fast food campaigns. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 4(2):97-110
Bawa, K., Srinivasan, S.S., & Srivastava, R.K. (1997). Coupon attractiveness and coupon proneness: A framework for modeling coupon redemption. Journal of Marketing Research, 34(4), 517-525.
Danaher, P. J., Smith, M. S., Ranasinghe, K., & Danaher, T. S. (2015). Where, when, and how long: Factors that influence the redemption of mobile phone coupons. Journal of Marketing Research, 52(5), 710-725.
Fuchs, K., Vuckovac, D., & Ilic, A. (2017, October). Towards interoperability in mobile coupons: Enabling cross retailer coupon validation. In 2017 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology Convergence (ICTC) (pp. 327-333). IEEE.
Gonzalez, E. (2016). Exploring the effect of coupon proneness and redemption efforts on mobile coupon redemption intentions. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 8(6), 1-6.
Gray, S. (2009). The Formative Years: The Mobile Couponing Craze Takes Shape. International Journal of Mobile Marketing, 4(1).
Jayasingh, S., & Eze, U. C. (2015). An empirical analysis of consumer behavioural intention towards mobile coupons in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Information, 4(2).
Khajehzadeh, S., Oppewal, H., & Tojib, D. (2015). Mobile coupons: what to offer, to whom, and where?. European Journal of Marketing, 49(5/6):851-873
Khelladi, I., Castellano, S., Dutot, V., Lehu, J. M., & Haeb, R. C. (2021). The Influence of Geolocated Mobile Coupons on Customer Behavior. International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction (IJTHI), 17(2), 23-39.
Kim, H. J., & Song, H. (2020). Effort justification for fun activities?: The effect of location-based mobile coupons using games. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 54, 102029.
Klede-Schnabel, W., & Bug, P. (2016). Customer loyalty programs in fashion retail-a change from multichannel to omnichannel, Reutlingen University
Liu, F., Zhao, X., Chau, P. Y., & Tang, Q. (2015). Roles of perceived value and individual differences in the acceptance of mobile coupon applications. Internet Research, 25, 471-495
Mittal, B. (1994). An integrated framework for relating diverse consumer characteristics to supermarket coupon redemption. Journal of Marketing Research, 31(11), 533-544
Omar, S., Mohsen, K., Tsimonis, G., Oozeerally, A., & Hsu, J. H. (2021). M-commerce: The nexus between mobile shopping service quality and loyalty. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 60, 102468.
Price, L.L., Feick, L.F., & Guskey-Federouch, A. (1988). Couponing behaviors of the market maven: Profile of a super couponer. Advances in Consumer Research, 15, 354-359.
Shankar, V., Kleijnen, M., Ramanathan, S., Rizley, R., Holland, S., & Morrissey, S. (2016). Mobile shopper marketing: Key issues, current insights, and future research avenues. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 34, 37-48.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
