Family & Relationships Family & Relationships

How Mobile Coupons Can Pay For A Smartphone Data Plan

Mobile coupons have been gaining popularity with the ever-evolving advances in smartphone application technology. One recent online survey, showed that smartphone users want to receive advertisements and mobile coupons to their device and welcome the marketing.(1) The type of coupons these surveyed consumers said they were most interested in receiving were grocery mobile coupons.

Retailers and manufacturers recognize that consumers' smartphones are a great way to directly reach shoppers. Typically, smartphone users carry their device on them at all times. Marketers have countless opportunities to target these mobile phone users throughout each day instead of waiting only for the weekly circular or Sunday newspaper coupon section to offer coupons to consumers.

In fact, one study indicated that a family spending just 20 minutes each week collecting and redeeming grocery coupons easily could save 20 percent on their grocery spending. That can add up to an annual savings of $1000 based on the average American family spending about $5,000 each year on its grocery bill.(2)

The average data plan with a smartphone costs $30 each month, so a 12-month spend on a data plan equates to $360. With the annual $1000 savings available to users of grocery mobile coupons, the $360 data plan would take less than half of those savings. By upgrading to a smartphone with a data package and enrolling with a mobile coupon app, shoppers could still save approximately $640 each year on grocery spend.

As the economy continues to hover around the "barely recovering" mark, it has become more evident that shoppers are looking to find savings on their annual household expenses. With retailers and manufacturer using mobile coupons more and more each day to offer savings to their customers, some regular cell phone users feel like they are being left out on the savings opportunities. Many of these non-smartphone users claim that the required cost of a data plan with smartphones is too expensive or outside of the budget comfort zone.

Very few mobile coupons exist for cell phone users without a smartphone. Some text messages services target these users. However, the majority of mobile coupons available come through a smartphone's application (apps) center. (Not to worry, there are some mobile coupons app manufacturers that also have a way to download printable coupons with their system.)

With mobile coupons on the rise, the savings are becoming more convenient and more targeted for consumers. Most mobile coupon apps allow shoppers to save on items they normally buy. While shopping, they snap a picture of the barcode on their item with their smartphone camera. The mobile coupons app locates an available retailer or manufacturer (or both) coupons for that particular item. The app uploads those mobile coupons right to the shopper's store loyalty card, and then they simply hand the shopper's card to the cashier to redeem the savings.

Savvy shoppers find additional savings when using mobile manufacturer coupons coupled with their favorite grocery retailers' sale items. Coupon "stacking" is a common couponing technique used by creative consumers. Couponing is becoming an art form among consumers looking to stay afloat in this shaky economy. They keep tabs on when grocery stores offer double or triple coupon days and also locate both manufacturer and retailer coupons. The savings opportunities are endless with a little wit and will.

However, finding enough savings to justify a new smartphone with a data package does not have to be that well-thought out or complicated. Simply by finding a mobile coupons app that locates both manufacturer and retailer coupons can take the guess work out of finding hundreds of dollars to put back in shoppers' pockets. That money can then be used keep up with the advances in mobile technology and couponing, without going into the red on the family budget.

Leave a reply