Earlier, and still popular, way of giving out and getting the coupon rebates was through newspapers, magazines and promotional media such as sales letters, brochures, menu cards etc. While these methods are by and large quite successful, they are very limited in their reach and are quite clumsy in the sense that one has to cut them and take them to the retailer to actually get the discount. This is besides the point that the cost incurred in such methods is quite high.



The future of the coupons is the distribution of discount coupon codes and the coupon itself through platforms like mobile phones and websites. In fact advertising companies and retailers are very hopeful of cell phones and Web sites as a medium to put coupons into consumer's hands and draw even the most reluctant customer to the establishment. Here is a glimpse into the future of coupons.

Coupons through Mobile Devices:

Mobile devices are being seen (and used) as the best way of distributing coupons as they are ubiquitous and in nearly everyone's hands, especially while they are out shopping or traveling. There are several ways mobile coupons or discount alerts can be sent to the mobile owners such as short message services (SMS), wireless application protocol (WAP) sites and dynamic downloadable applications.

Of all the options SMS is currently considered as the best way to send discount alerts and mobile coupons as most cell phones support SMS. Advertisers can send the discount alert to the mobile phones about the offer and ask the user to download a coupon from a web or WAP site. Or they can send the discount coupon codes through SMS which can be redeemed by the users at the store or which can be entered into a Web site if it's an online purchase.

Second option to send mobile coupons is through WAP sites which are designed to fit in the screen of mobile phones. WAP sites can be accessed by the user through mobile Internet browsers. The downloadable coupons can be displayed on such sites. Along with coupons, store finders, hours of store operation, directions, etc. can also be put on the WAP site for the ease of the users.

Third way of making mobile phone users aware of the coupons is through a software application or program which users can download on their mobiles through a Web site or a WAP site. These software applications display the currently available mobile coupons from participating advertisers when selected by the user. In this sense they act like RSS feed receiver and can alert the users of the coupon rebates when they become available for the download.

Coupons through Broadband Video:

Broadband videos can also be used as a very effective way of distributing the coupons. In fact advertisers are looking at broadband videos as a powerful extension to television advertising. This media can be utilized for coupon downloads in two ways - In-Stream and In-Banner video.

In-Stream videos can be seen by the viewers when they click on a specific content. They are generally 15 to 30 seconds long and while the video is primarily an ad, much like ads on TV, they may contain a coupon the option of whose download is provided to the viewers.

In-Banner videos, as the name suggest, are embedded in a banner on a site. They can be played by the users by clicking on them or they can be designed to be played whether the user clicks or not. This video again contains coupon details which can be downloaded from the site.