The color of redemption

Target added four-color capability to its receipt marketing program and experienced a significant, but unspecified, lift in redemption compared with its earlier program, which relied on black-and-white printing technology. In addition to increasing redemption rates, the program is persuading customers to shop other areas of the stores. Now, the retailer is putting coupons in the hands of more shoppers, as it has added functionality that lets customers download and redeem coupons using their mobile phones.

Retailers have been talking about consumers increased usage of coupons for more than the past year, so it is not a big surprise then that data out this week shows that redemption activity was up last year. What is surprising is the magnitude of the increase, as there were 3.3 billion coupons redeemed last year, a 27% increase from the prior year when 2.6 billion coupons were redeemed, according to Inmar, the nation’s leading promotion transaction settlement provider. The surge in redemption activity was made possible by the fact that CPG manufacturers relied extensively on coupons, issuing 367 billion of them, as a means to maintain sales volumes as consumers were included to purchase store-brand alternatives.