Millennial Shoppers Need Couponing Experience to be Seamless, Easy-to-Use in Order to Shift to Digital

According to a new commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Linkable Networks, CPG retailers and brands must adopt digital coupon redemption experiences that are automatic to reach millennial shoppers, especially those with children, because they find most digital coupons to be harder to use than traditional paper coupons. The study, “Creating Loyalty With Millennials and Young Parents: How Automated Redemption And Card-Linked Offers Will Solve The Adoption Dilemma For Digital Coupons” which surveyed 516 U.S. shoppers cites retailers and brands who offer simplicity will find millennials more inclined to try new retailers or products, driving customer acquisition and use coupons, driving loyalty. “At a time when myths about coupons are prevalent – millennials don’t bother and they erode loyalty – the reality is when coupons are digital and intuitive they grow in usage and drive an increase in loyalty. Convenience is key in CPG,” said John Caron, Chief Marketing Officer, Linkable Networks. “For today’s influential millennial population, CPG marketers who consider Invisible Redemption, where through card-linked offers, coupons are connected to a shopper’s credit or debit cards and savings are seamlessly redeemed at the time of purchase, will win the race to scale digital couponing.” The study’s analysis identified shoppers’ number one pain-point limiting them from regularly using coupons is forgetting them at checkout in-store. In fact, 79 percent of surveyed shoppers shared they would not buy an item if they forgot to bring a coupon in-store. For CPG marketers, this results in loss of sales and little opportunity to build loyalty. While digital experiences can help combat these losses, shopper adoption of digital is still limited as compared to traditional because digital is yet to be seamless and truly provide value to shoppers. With all-digital card-linked offers, retailers and brands can incentivize shoppers enough to try new brands, use more coupons – building loyalty – and increase visits to retailers who support automatic redemption. For example, the study found 63 percent of Millennials would experiment with a new brand if they received a card-link offer. Furthermore, 48 percent of Millennials would spend their dollars at another retailer that accepts card-linked offers. According to the survey, 78 percent of shoppers report using a debit or credit card to pay for every day staples including grocery items and half of shoppers are interested in using card-linked offers, illustrating the importance of leveraging seamless and automatic coupon redemption specific to CPG retailers and brands.