Mobile Users Want Location-Based Coupons
|
Although many mobile users are mixed about sharing their whereabouts with retailers to receive discounts, the majority of them believe location-based coupons are worth the privacy risk, a new study suggests.
A study conducted by Prosper Mobile Insights found that a whopping 81.9 percent of mobile users are open to receiving coupons on their smartphone or tablet, even though location-based coupons raise privacy concerns.
The study polled 348 smartphone and tablet users — 46 percent of respondents were men and 54 percent were women, with an average age of 43 — who answered survey questions on their mobile devices.
Although 25.6 percent of survey respondents said they were not concerned about privacy worries related to location-based coupons, about 44.8 percent said they are somewhat to very concerned about their location being tracked and other security issues. About 29.6 percent said they were neutral.
Overall, about 67 percent of smartphone and tablet users said location-based coupons are very convenient and useful.
Mobile users who are fans of location-based coupons are open to receiving them in various forms. For example, about 25 percent of respondents said they would prefer to automatically receive coupons on a smartphone or tablet when they are near a store. However, about half said they would prefer to receive coupons on their device via email.
Manually searching for coupons (32 percent), scanning QR codes (31.9 percent) and receiving promotional texts (31 percent) are the most preferred ways to receive coupons on smartphones and tablets. Only 10.3 percent prefer "checking in" to social media sites to obtain discounts, and 18.1 percent don't want to receive coupons at all on a device. [Read: Social Media Statistics: Mind-Boggling Facts About the Medium]
The report also found that the majority of respondents engage in various shopping behaviors on their mobile devices. About 76.4 percent browse or look for products and services, and 42.2 percent have used their smartphone or tablet as a coupon, such as scanning a bar code at the register, showing a text to a cashier and so on. Meanwhile, nearly 40 percent have made a purchase on a mobile device and 36.2 percent have scanned a QR code.
Reach TechNewsDaily senior writer Samantha Murphy at smurphy@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @SamMurphy_TMN
