• Online Loyalty clubs- Most of the pizza chains have put their loyalty clubs online and have been spending significant budgets on driving traffic to their loyalty pages. Dominos, Pizza Hut, Pizza corner all have created their online clubs and they have used innovative schemes to drive memberships. Members are regulary sent offers and coupons which can be used both as print-outs and as mobile downloads.

• Facebook pages- Facebook has been a big destination for many marketing managers, some of the well populated pages are for coffee day, pizza hut etc. This is gaining momentum and is likely to be a big channel for consumer engagement. The fact that users dont have to leave their Facebook page while interacting with the brand is a big plus.

• Twitter- Mallika Sherwat made twitter famous in India and this is becoming a good channel to communicate the promotions and engage with the consumers. This is also a great place to gather your consumer feedback.

• Mobile Loyalty programs- With more and more companies joining loyalty bandwagon, it is increasingly difficult for consumers to carry so many loyalty cards in their wallet. A simplified loyalty program with an easy execution is very critical. How you get your loyal members to walk into your stores and engage with you repeatedly is an important question. Using mobile to create the program, rewarding members based on usage with extra mobile vouchers/discounts are some of the interesting ideas which are gaining ground. Companies like Starbucks, IKEA are piloting mobile coupons in a big way.

While usage of digital channels is an important emerging trend, many companies are not leveraging this channel to the best possible results. This channel makes the Marketing budget very measurable and that is not fully captured. Also companies have to look at using this as a complete engagement tool with a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) approach rather than campaign by campaign basis.

We will discuss the best practices and how digital channels can be used for effective consumer promotions in the next article.

Even couple of years back, this was the most visible face of Consumer Promotions. Not any more. With the advent of coupons and deals, the definition and execution of this kind of Marketing has changed completely.

Now just look around and find all leading grocery chains putting their top deals together and giving it out in one place to attract consumers. Star Bazaar, More, Spencers etc are putting their top deals in a paper insert and sending it out. In fact for grocery chains, deals based marketing has replaced traditional advertisements completely. For example, check the Big Bazaar ads in newspapers which are completely centred around coupons and deals and those deals and expected savings act as the major attraction for the consumers.

Pizza companies are going a step ahead. Large chains are regularly giving out coupons with the take away menus. These are also investing heavily in creating loyalty clubs where members are rewarded with good coupons on a monthly basis. Dominos has been sending a very well compiled coupons booklet to its loyal customers and Pizza Hut has created a VIP (Very Interested in Pizza!!) Club for its loyal base. In all these cases, the focus has all been around driving repeat purchasing using the most interesting and useful coupons. The next step could very well be customizing the coupons based on usage by the consumers. One consumer may get pasta coupons while the other one may get coupon on extra cheese toppings.

Marketing Managers of many other products and services categories are seriously working on using the deal and coupons driven consumer promotion to drive trials and repeat purchase. The most interesting ones have been in weight loss programs!! pay for one kg and lose two!!

Coupons and deals are changing the face and the weight of Promotions Marketing for sure.

open2save has worked with many of its clients to build coupon based consumer promotions including measuring ROI and effectiveness of deal/coupon and the channels.

open2save also lists consumer promotions of leading chains on open2save.com for its members.

In the second part of this series I will discuss how digital channels are being used for effective consumer promotions.

Thanks for all the feedback and word-of-mouth. With every passing month we are seeing new members joining in greater numbers (multiples actually !!) – all due to word of mouth.

The more members we have the better discounts we can get !!

Coupons have been an integral part of every consumer’s life in developed countries like US. You have weekend newspapers full of these and buyers have been clipping and using these coupons for many decades to save money on their shopping. With the advent of internet, over the last few years, you search for coupons in google and it is full of hundreds of websites giving coupons in US.

Over 3 billions dollars were saved by consumers last year in the US just by using coupons. There are certain categories where you can’t think of buying it without coupons. For example, over 80% diapers in the US are bought with coupons!!

Coupons have been an integral part of every consumer’s shopping and every Marketer’s promotions plans.

In India coupons have made their debut now!! Many categories like Groceries, Pizza, Beauty Services are going whole hog and offering some really useful coupons to consumers. When all the retailers, products, restaurants are vying for your attention with some of the best deals and coupons then it makes perfect sense to leverage your consumer position and get the best value for your every Rupee spent.

What is fascinating is that coupons in India are evolving quite differently from in the US. And like it has happened in many other industries – India seems to be making technology leaps and online and mobile coupons make a significant part of overall coupons market in India. Unlike in the US when print / paper coupons hold the largest share, coupons in India will be a lot more digital than paper from day 1.

open2save has been a pioneer in coupons space. We bring some very select of these exclusive coupons for your usage. You can check these coupons online and download on your mobile for a convenient usage and savings.

It is great win win situation for a consumer. You save time and you save money. You get to browse everything at your convenience at home, make your shopping list, carry your coupons on your mobile and buy everything at the best prices available.

If you are reading this and haven’t registered yet … go on, register now at open2save.com

You will love the feel of extra money in your pocket every month!!

“We have all heard of ‘Every rupee saved is every rupee earned’ !!

Through this blog, we aim to bring to our friends, practical tips in their everyday life which they they can use to save when they shop, travel, eat out and other services they use all the times.“

Check it out at savingsimplified.open2save.com

“Fantastic !!” yelled Santosh D., Bangalore

wrote Anuj

“The website is very precise, crisp and clear. Very simple yet very attractive. I like the concept and wish that it really grows big and works in India.” Juhi C., Bangalore, India

“Congratulations on putting up a new website! The design is very un-cluttered and simple yet effective. Putting the registration functionality on the home page is a good idea.” wrote Sitashwa, India

“This concept of coupon service is very good, best of all its easy to use. Infact i have forwarded the link to some of my friends too. Keep going.” wrote Subhashini R. from Bangalore

“WOW, finally here is a service which saves money for all in almost everything! Wondering why nobody did think of it earlier. Its a great service to both the seller & the buyer. may you guys prosper saving money for everybody.“ writes Subash from Bangalore

“This is pretty cool. It’s really simple… which is a good thing. You don’t have to cut anything out. I like it.”  said Bart S., Chicago, US

Arun S. from Texas, US says “I really liked both the concept and the website. Couple of big things that you have got right – 1) An attractive Web 2.0 like look (more akin a Twiiter or a Facebook) which I think is important – people in age-group of 18-49 segment (with disposable incomes and mobile phones) should really like spending their time shopping for deals on your website; 2) It is very user friendly – even a person who is not computer savvy can use it which I think is very important”

Greg H., CA, US wrote “The site looks great. The graphics are perfect (and I don’t use that word nearly as often as you do) and the interface is slick.”

Other posts include

“Known simple concept. The challenge is really implementing it and I think you guys have done a great job at that – both in terms of the site, the feeds and the coupon delivery”

“Really good and amazing”

“Delhi and NCR. A must for your site. ”

“Very good idea – if the first to open in India, then needs to quickly extend to all regions to capture what looks to be a valuable market”

“Pleasant UI.”

“I loved the concept, one place where I can get all the best deals in the city, its called a WOW factor!! “

95% of customers who gave feedback rated us 5 on 5 …

It feels good to have such a positive start … we are continuing to update the coupons in open2save and should have good first round of offers in place by next week. We will continue to try hard and ensure the feedback remains this positive and we can only build on it.

Thank You.

You can how download coupons and deals to a mobile or as a printable PDF. We worked hard to make life easy for you … so you will be able to see all coupons and deals in your city with our new minimalistic navigation.  The site now requires registration because most of the offers are exclusive.

You will also see a lot more coupons for popular categories like Pizza, Fast Food, Beauty, Health/Fitness etc.

The initial response has been phenomenal … but I leave it for every one to decide for themselves.  Take a look at open2save.com and give us your valuable feedback.

open2save.com

Here are some … 

PluggdIn wrote … “from what I know, open2save guys are building a very aggressive field force (and are relying on offline deals, rather than writing a simple aggregator)”  Click4Details

Watblog wrote …. “A Retail Aggregation Model – The Amazon Anti-Thesis” Click4Details

Indianomics analysed in detail and wrote … “The deal aggregator works on a online and offline approach. This seems to be the right approach for India where people are still reluctant to buy something without seeing or touching. Though the idea is not new, the execution is” … Click4Details 

Did you find an article about us or deal aggregators that is interesting? Love the one’s that criticize … as it’s always interesting to learn how to do better.

As a part of our mission we launched our first service open2save in February 2008.

The basic idea behind the online version of open2save is that information online can help you make better buying decisions. Given all the traffic problems in our cities, window shopping or comparison shopping is a nightmare every one wants to avoid. With open2save.in you can look up at the convenience of your home/desk various products and their prices – across 100s of stores in your city. The best part is you still buy in the store and not online – but you can now go for the best deal without searching thru 10 stores !!

We went live with www.open2save.in first in Bangalore. Since then we launched the service in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Chennai.

On popular demand we added a phone/email based deal expert team that you can contact and ask for a deal to handle specific needs you have. You can also click on CallMe, give your number and our team will call you.

In July we launched coupons in specific localities and in corporates. We now distribute discount coupons to over 2 Lakh customers every month – at home, at work and thru other channels.

So far the feedback and response has been very positive. But, we are looking for more input. Tell us what you don’t like and what we can do better.