Coupons have become an essential tool for small business enterprises to boost their sales and to reap maximum profits. With the help of coupons, small businesses have found a way to thrive in the market alongside big enterprises. While the primary purpose of coupons is to drive sales, it also serves an array of uses.
Increase Customer Base
Issuing coupons attract more customers to your store, whether it may be online or offline. There are already very popular coupon sites such as retailmenot, curateddeals, group on etc. which provide the best deals and discounts for various products in the market. In addition to retaining existing customers, the coupons also serve the purpose of attracting new customers. The businesses employ different strategies to identify the target audience and lure those using coupons. You will have to offer them coupons that are hard to be ignored. Identifying the target audience is the most important thing in gaining new customers, and you will have to find an efficient way to take your coupons to the target audience.
Increase Sales
Coupons will help you to make more sales and thereby ultimately increase your profit. There is a common misconception that issuing coupons will not yield profit as the prices of the items are slashed. However, this is not the case. While the profit margin is low per sale, the increased number of sales will compensate for the discounted price. The businesses should do enough market research to fix the offers carried by the coupons. The marketing costs involved in targeting the right audience to issue coupons should also be considered, and the overall net value should be profitable.
Instill Loyalty
Coupons can be used to reward existing customers for shopping with the brand, and this would increase the loyalty of the customers towards the brand. A good brand is one that does not give the customers a reason to shop from its competitors. Issuing coupons will keep your customers glued to your store and have a long term relationship with the customers. Such a relationship with the customers is a proven way for businesses to reach great heights.
Faster Sales
Coupons enable a business to sell products faster than during regular times. There is a direct correlation between issuing coupons and the rapid sale of the products during that period. Analyzing the market and employing a sound distribution strategy of the coupons will accelerate the sales of the product. You will have to identify the right time to bring the coupons into play by analyzing the market.
Increase Web Traffic
If your business is in line with the online trend, then the coupons will help you generate more traffic to your website. This is especially true in the case of e-commerce sites. Deciding whether to buy the product or not is a secondary thing, the customer would want to know the kind of deal that he will get on using the coupon. There are several third-party coupon sites that list the coupons offered by the brand. These websites can also drive traffic to your online store, which would boost your online presence and domain authority.
Increase Brand Awareness
Whether a customer buys a product is secondary, but once there is a deal on the product, he will surely visit your website to check additional information about the deal. This will significantly boost brand awareness. Once the customer visits your website, he may end up buying other items as well that interests him.
Festive and Holiday Sales
The coupons can also be used at the time of festivals and holiday season. Holidays such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday witness a massive increase in sales for the small business owners. The items that are in demand for the festival or holiday should be chosen, and attractive deals are given to those items.
Clear Old Stocks
Not all products are fast selling, and certain products might get accumulated in your inventory. The product might have lost its demand, or a new updated version of the product would have been released in the market. If this is the scenario, then issuing coupons for the old stocks are an incredible way to clear your inventory. You can also use the coupons to clear out stocks of products that are on the verge of being replaced by a newer model.
Marketing Medium
Coupons are primarily marketing materials aiding you in advertising your brand in addition to offering the customers a deal. If channeled through the right medium, the coupons will serve as indirect market materials attracting more customers to your store.
Designing a Coupon
Not just the deal, but also the way you design the coupons should be attractive and eye-catching. Explicit texts and exciting info graphics are used to make the coupons more gripping. The coupons are designed in a way that they embody its purpose. The brand logo and name, and essential information such as expiry date, deal price, terms, and conditions should be clearly visible.
Marketing and Distribution Strategy
Devising a proper strategy to market and distribute the coupons is imperative to reap profits from your coupon campaign. You will have to target the right audience, and you have to come up with a cost-efficient way to market your coupon campaign and to distribute the coupons. You will have to be clear with the objective of the coupon campaign, whether you are trying to retain existing customers or attracting new customers or clearing out your old stocks.
With the current internet trends, online distribution of coupons would help you efficiently reach your target audience. There are also several third-party coupon sites that will enlist your coupons in their coupons section. This will increase the visibility of your coupons and will help you reach a more comprehensive array of audiences. You can also distribute the coupons via advertisements in newspapers, brochures, etc.
Conclusion
There is a common misconception that issuing coupons and discounts will increase the brand value. However, this is not entirely true. With today’s competitive business sector, there is a greater necessity to find novel ways to be successful in the market. Employing an efficient distribution strategy for the coupons by understanding market trends indeed provides an edge to small businesses.