Although commonplace in other parts of the world, namely Asia, mobile phone coupons and money-off vouchers have not found their place in the UK market.
The only real examples of mobile phones being used this way within the UK is by phone operators such as Orange and O2, who have trialled a few schemes with their customers that involved cinema tickets, and entry to music events etc.
This however, could change this summer - when 17,000 small retailers and corner shops across Britain will participate in a new scheme.
The scheme aims to replicate the success major supermarket chains have seen with their loyalty cards.
Dubbed "Shop Scan Save", customers will be able to receive special offer coupons straight to their phones, which can be scanned straight from the phones display at the shops checkout.
A number of major companies are participating in the scheme, which had helped increase the number of products that coupons can be released for, with everything from nappies to confectionary now included.
One of the keys to success for any new idea is that it is easy to implement into the current market. Shop Scan Save is being rolled out by PayPoint, the company that supply the POS terminals to over 9,000 retailers across the country. This combined with the scheme making use of current barcode and mobile technologies will greatly aid its implementation.
All consumers will have to do to opt into the scheme is text "join" to a certain number and from then on in, they will start to receive coupons. Over time a unique database will be compiled for each customer, based on which coupons they redeem, companies will be able to better target future promotions.
It is hoped that Shop Scan Save will help reach out to new demographics, who do not tend to pay much attention to paper coupons.
Delivering coupons via mobile phones should prove considerably more popular than paper coupons; this is no surprise, considering how central mobile phones are to peoples lives.
All that you will require to be part of the scheme is a phone able to receive images; if you do not have one then the internet is an excellent place to compare mobile phones.
