I happened to catch a show tonight about people are super obsessive about using coupons. We’ve all heard about it lately, people going to the stores with stacks and stacks of coupons getting insane deals. Some people even MAKE money on these transactions. There is a flaw in all of this though… It is time consuming! Not only time consuming for the would-be “couponeer” who has to clip out these things but also the cashier who has to scan each individual coupon after scanning a plethora of items. This is where this week’s app idea would come in handy.
- The app would have the ability to scan the barcodes of coupons (or even a QR code).
- The application would verify the validity of each coupon via the barcode.
- Users would “bank” their coupons to a central user account for the app.
- Users could generate a single coupon or code associated with their account that code be scanned, entered manually, or even transmitted via NFC by the sales associate of the store.
- The stores computers would then run through the coupons stored in the users account and apply all eligible discounts to their purchase.
- Savings would be deducted from the users’ central account.
It is a simple concept that I’m sure has flaws but could be refined to work effectively. What do you guys think? Would it work? What would need to be changed? Give us some feedback.
I’ve contemplated this idea before. The problem is that companies who distribute coupons really don’t want you to use them. They intentionally make the coupons difficult to cash in. The process is as follows :
1. The customer must find the coupon, cut it out, and bring it to the store.
2. The store must take the physical coupon and ensure that it was used for an item described in the coupon.
3. The company must snail mail all of the coupons to the company of origin.
4. The company of origin then determines if the company who accepted the coupon is over the allotted limit of coupons.
5. Finally the company of origin sends a check for the amount of the coupons.
In this process a large majority of the coupons are misplaced or not accounted for helping out the company who supplied them in the first place. It would be illogical for a coupon producing company to make the process more efficient. They want you to SEE that they are offering coupons, but they don’t really want them to be used.
Makes sense really. The one thing that may keep the idea alive is the fact that the coupons/discounts can expire (therefore being deducted from your account) and at some point the user must physically be in contact with the coupon they have scanned /stored.
I wonder if the coupon producers would even have to approve of an app like this?
Google Wallet already has this idea in implementation. When combined with Google Offers, any coupons that your purchased through that service would already be applied at checket. Of course, Google Wallet has the drawback of severely limited support amongst financial institutions (I think only one currently supports it) and with businesses that accept “tap and pay.” That second point is further limited by the lack of NFC phones on the market.