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| A QUESTION FOR BRANDS |
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| There are a number of websites, with names like Coupon Mountain, Current Codes, Key Codes, Coupon Cabin, FatWallet, Coupon Chief, Daily Deals, Spree……the list goes on and on, which offer online coupons and/or cash back. These sites are populated with coupons/offers from various sources: |
 | Submitted by consumers who received the offers |
| Identified by the site |
| Negotiated with supplying merchants (especially true for cash back deals) |
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| We looked at offers on four of them, chosen at random, to try to determine whether these sites ultimately help or hurt merchants. The four sites were Coupon Mountain, Coupon Cabin, FatWallet, and Spree. |
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| In order to understand these prospecting tools' positive and negative points, we evaluated current offers for five online merchants, also selected at random: Coldwater Creek, Hickory Farms, Lillian Vernon, RedEnvelope and Sharper Image. The table below shows the offers and where they were available. Offers available on more than one site are highlighted. Spree offers cash back on purchases but does not have coupons such as those shown below. |
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| We made the following observations: |
| 1. | The sites compete among themselves for customers. Some sites add other benefits to consumers in an effort to capture the purchase. All of the sites offered deals by category and store. Some also showed coupons by popularity, and expiration date as well as providing a forum for customer feedback, ratings, and message boards. FatWallet and Spree give back cash to the buyer. Other options on some such sites include RSS feeds, price comparisons, and tell-a-friend. Sometimes the site adds an incentive to gain the purchase. |
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| 2. | All sites do not necessarily have the same offers or combinations of deals. For example, |
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| a. | Coldwater Creek has a variety of offers but nothing on FatWallet. Since most of the companies on FatWallet are participating in giving cash back to the consumer, Coldwater Creek's absence is noticeable. We checked another popular cash back-only site, Spree.com, and Coldwater Creek was not available there either. And the coupon offers available for this tri-channel retailer found on Coupon Mountain and Coupon Cabin were different from each other; Cabin showing the highest percent off. |
| b. | Hickory Farms was featured on FatWallet, but did not have any offers mentioned. Their cash back percentage given on FatWallet is 5.5%; while HF gives 5% cash back for purchasing through the Spree cash back portal. Coupon Mountain and Coupon Cabin had two of the same offers for Hickory Farms, with Coupon Cabin offering an additional incentive to consumers mailing to APO/FPO's. |
| c. | Lillian Vernon had five offers on Coupon Cabin, and only one of those offers, $10 off a $60 purchase, was also present on Coupon Mountain and FatWallet. Coupon Mountain and FatWallet also shared showed $2.99 flat shipping on all orders. FatWallet offers cash back of 6% on Lillian Vernon, but Spree offers just 3% for the same merchant. |
| d. | RedEnvelope has a 15% off offer on both Coupon Mountain and Coupon Cabin, yet is not present on FatWallet, but does offer 4% cash back on Spree.com. |
| e. | Three of Sharper Images' most popular coupons are available on all three of the websites. The wording may be slightly different from site to site, but the offers are the same: |
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| $10 off $100 or $50 off $300 or $100 off $500 |
| 50% off iPulse Stereo with any purchase |
| 50% off 22" or 26" Nylon Rolling Carry-on Luggage w/Any Purchase |
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| | The Free Shipping + 50% off 2nd Silent Air Purifier offer is available on Coupon Cabin and FatWallet, but not on Coupon Mountain, however, interestingly Coupon Mountain has two offers which appear only on its site: |
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| Free s&h on FresherLonger + FREE 4 pc. Starter Set |
| Save at Sharper Image |
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| 3. | Because consumers are not only taking advantage of offers received via mail and email, but also posting these offers on the coupon websites to share with other consumers, merchants need to be careful how offers are worded and distributed. By recognizing that their offers may end up available to a much greater universe than initially planned, a merchant must be careful how the offer is worded. Recently we saw a deal from a retailer that was $20 off any purchase. Without stating that a minimum purchase of $x was required, consumers were buying items for only the cost of shipping. Also it is important to include a time limit to reduce exposure to unexpected use. |
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| 4. | Merchants who offer cash back see these sites as a way to build their files. While consumers may like this option, merchants need to make sure they are looking at results down to the contribution level to determine if they can afford the give back. It is also important to look at repeat purchases to determine if in fact the additional buyers stayed with the company. |
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| 5. | These sites provide a venue for gaining visibility and potential garnering new customers. It is important for retailers to know where their offers are surfacing and monitor results in order to determine if coupon/cash back sites help build housefile size, add or detract from the brand image, and ultimately increase the bottom line. |
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