{"id":16191,"date":"2016-11-17T17:58:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T22:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/from-paper-to-clicks-how-retailmenot-changed-how-shoppers-save\/"},"modified":"2016-11-17T17:58:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T22:58:20","slug":"from-paper-to-clicks-how-retailmenot-changed-how-shoppers-save","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/from-paper-to-clicks-how-retailmenot-changed-how-shoppers-save\/","title":{"rendered":"From Paper to Clicks: How RetailMeNot Changed How Shoppers Save"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rise of the Coupon<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to getting the world hooked on soda, Coca-Cola also got people hooked on savings by introducing the first coupon in 1887 [1].\u00a0 Less than 30 years later, Coca-Cola was a major brand and had given away over 8.5 million free beverages through couponing. \u00a0After seeing the success of this type of promotion in increasing sales and brand awareness, paper coupons took off and infiltrated into consumer behavior, and later achieved pop-culture status on shows like Extreme Couponing<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0In 1957, to manage the redemption of paper coupons, Nielsen Coupon Clearing House was formed to help make the process more efficient [2].\u00a0 While the business processes were improving and changing with the times, the actual coupon itself wasn\u2019t undergoing the same transformation.\u00a0 With the rise of internet shopping and the pressures of the Great Recession, the industry was about to shift.<\/p>\n

It was almost impossible to use paper coupons in e-commerce transactions.\u00a0 To facilitate the transition to online shopping while still offering consumers value, retailers began to offer promo codes, or coupons that could be applied to an online shopping cart.\u00a0 Whereas coupons were easy to distribute in stores, there weren\u2019t easily accessible places on the web to find deals on your favorite stores.<\/p>\n

The Start of\u00a0the e-Commerce Era<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enter RetailMeNot.com. In 2006, the website was founded to help online shoppers save money across multiple retailers [3].\u00a0 The site aggregates deals from across the web, leading it to have greater than 600,000 promo codes from more than 70,000 retailers on the web [4].\u00a0 However, a lot of these coupons are available all around the web, and on the websites of the retailers themselves.\u00a0 To help combat this, RetailMeNot utilizes the power of social networks to help improve its content and increase its competitive barriers through user-generated content, which makes up roughly one-third of the offers available on site [5].\u00a0 Realizing that a lot of the best deals are hard to find, the company allows users to submit new deals for points and badges.\u00a0 The company has even created its own mini social network, with chat rooms available on its website and private Facebook groups for its most active supporters [6].\u00a0 By using technology, RetailMeNot has been able to strengthen its competitive moat compared to opponents.<\/p>\n

Providing a savings resource for consumers is great, but would not be sustainable without revenue streams.\u00a0 To create value for the business, RetailMeNot uses cookie tracking through affiliate networks to earn commissions from retailers [7]. In the time of paper coupons, it was difficult to accurately attribute the value of different marketing channels.\u00a0 However, with the digitization of this industry, marketers were able to determine that value and pay partners appropriately, which is how the company gained credibility with retailers.\u00a0 This credibility also led retailers to give RetailMeNot exclusive offers, thereby increasing its competitiveness [7].<\/p>\n

The Rise of Mobile<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"rise-of-mobile\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With the ubiquity of mobile devices, RetailMeNot is now entering its next phase of growth.\u00a0 The company launched its mobile app in 2012, and made mobile one of its key priorities for 2016 [3,8].\u00a0 Focusing on bringing digital coupons to the stores, RetailMeNot launched its Mobile and In-Store Solution to help retailers digitize their in-store coupon offers and to help consumers remove their reliance on paper coupons completely [9].\u00a0 The company now offers a completely omnichannel solution, helping retailers reach consumers via their phones, desktops, email, and social networks.\u00a0 RetailMeNot has also used its vast network of information on customers to provide key insights to retailers, which were hard to gather in a brick-and-mortar, mobile-less world.<\/p>\n

\"screen-shot-2016-11-16-at-4-27-00-pm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: US Census Bureau<\/p>\n

While the company has hit some stumbling blocks through this transition, there are still many opportunities to grow in the digital world [10].\u00a0 E-commerce is booming, but in-store transactions still make up over 90% of transactions [11].\u00a0 Additionally, with mobile shopping growing, the company should continue its investment in its mobile app.\u00a0 However, there are two main things the company needs to ensure happen in order to secure success.\u00a0 First, the sheer volume of discounts that RetailMeNot offers, once a great strength, could be overwhelming for an on-the-go or mobile shopper.\u00a0 To combat this, they should utilize machine learning to show users the offers they are looking for based on interests, where they are \/ where they are going, etc.\u00a0 This will help make sure shoppers get the right deal at the right time.\u00a0 Secondly, they need to make sure that their coupons work 100% of the time.\u00a0 A user might be disappointed if a coupon doesn\u2019t work online, but there could be a sense of embarrassment that could come along with a failed coupon use in-store.\u00a0 By making sure coupons work all the time and showing consumers what they want, when they want it, they can strengthen their relationship with their users.<\/p>\n

Word count: 799<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

[1] Megan Geuss, \u201cPrototype: Coca-Cola and the Birth of the Coupon,\u201d Wired<\/em>, https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2010\/10\/pl_protoype_cocacola\/, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[2] Nielsen Clearing House, \u201cNCH History,\u201d https:\/\/www.nchmarketing.com\/NCHHistory.aspx, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[3] RetailMeNot, \u201cReal Deal: History of Coupons,\u201d https:\/\/www.retailmenot.com\/blog\/sc-history-of-coupons.html, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[4] RetailMeNot, \u201cAbout Us.\u201d https:\/\/www.retailmenot.com\/corp\/about\/, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[5] Morey Stettner, \u201cRetailMeNot Founder Harnesses User Generated Content,\u201d Investor\u2019s Business Daily<\/em>, http:\/\/www.investors.com\/news\/management\/managing-for-success\/retailmenot-cotter-cunningham-stays-close-to-customers\/, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[6] RetailMeNot, \u201cCommunity,\u201d \u00a0https:\/\/www.retailmenot.com\/community\/, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[7] RetailMeNot, Inc., Form S-1 (June 17, 2013), http:\/\/investor.retailmenot.com\/Cache\/30024211.pdf, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[8] \u201cRetailMeNot Announces Fourth Quarter & Fiscal Year 2015 Financial Results,\u201d press release, February 9, 2016, http:\/\/investor.retailmenot.com\/Cache\/1001206763.PDF?O=PDF&T=&Y=&D=&FID=1001206763&iid=4296416, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[9] RetailMeNot, \u201cSolutions,\u201d\u00a0 https:\/\/www.retailmenot.com\/corp\/solutions\/, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[10] Jignesh Gohel, \u201cThe Real-World Impact of Panda 4.0: A Case Study of RetailMeNot,\u201d SEM Rush,<\/em> \u00a0https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/blog\/real-world-impact-panda-4-0-case-study-retailmenot\/, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n

[11] U.S. Census Bureau, “Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales,\u201d http:\/\/www.census.gov\/retail\/mrts\/www\/data\/pdf\/ec_current.pdf, accessed November 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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