There is no more ‘the market is changing.’ It has happened. The market has changed, and the new market looks very different. Where once customers remained loyal to brands, economic fluctuations have caused shifts and consumers now seek out the lowest cost.
One of the platforms which customers flocked to during this change was coupons/discounts. Instead of traditional coupons where you would need to look through papers and cut out tokens, coupon startups sprung up to offer easy to search and redeem services wrapped into an app and a website.
On the surface it can appear that consumers, en masse, now benefit from this trend, however the truth is that it truly is a mutually beneficial relationship. The Groupon Coupons page for Nine West, as an example, allows Nine West to broadcast their branding and capture new audiences worldwide.
While customers would be traditionally hindered in finding new brands and products due to geographic limitations, sites like these allow customers to discover new and relevant services by a separate goal – finding a discount.
This works for business on the most critical level – customer growth and customer retention. Both of which a business wouldn’t be able to operate without.
Continuing with the above-mentioned example, coupons services have allowed Nine West to open up their business to the world in a way that makes it easy for the consumer not only to discover but use. And to their benefit.
Of course, these services and benefits aren’t limited to large companies to operate on a global scale.
In fact, quite the opposite is true.
Location aware services allow customers to do simple searches for services like ‘foot massage’ and be returned with results closest to them. This is a powerful tool for small and local business to utilize as, by purchasing the right keywords, can capture a customer who is looking for their exact product and is standing right around the block.
With a few presses of a button, this user has now become a customer. The business benefits with an immediate new customer. And the customer benefits by receiving a product they wanted, close to their location, and discounted.
