Well Played: Hobby Lobby streamlines mobile coupons

portfolio-casestudies
admin
June 16, 2010
  • Sharebar

    In this economy, coupons are coming back in a big way- popular websites like LivingSocial and Groupon offer one-day-only savings on things like spa packages, restaurants and tourist adventures, and iPhone app Yowza!! offers mobile coupons based on your location for stores like The Finish Line, Pier 1 Imports, and The Container Store. But it’s a hassle to get coupons in your email, then print them, then remember them when you go out, then remember them at the point of purchase. Groupon now offers an iPhone app, but you still have to buy the coupon to use it, thereby adding steps between downloading the coupon and making a purchase. Yowza!! coupons can only be used once or twice, unless it’s a department or store-wide discount, which would be available to everyone without a coupon, so what was the point? Hobby Lobby Mobile Site

    Hobby Lobby, on the other hand, offers coupons directly from their mobile site. Since it only takes a four-digit code to get the discount, it’s unnecessary to print out the coupon before going to the store so purchasing decisions can be made on the fly. Plus, the coupon can be used several times, meaning people can go back to the store over and over again, increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases and improving customer retention. People can effortlessly bookmark the site into their mobile browser and keep checking back to see what new coupon is offered.

    The website also offers their weekly sales flyer and geolocation, thereby streamlining the process from identifying the need to purchasing the product. There are very few steps between accessing the coupon, finding a way to use the coupon, and then making the purchase. It’s a well-designed system that ensures ease of use for the consumer and, thankfully, for the cashiers. There’s nothing to scan, no app to download. Hobby Lobby’s mobile coupons are easy to use, and offer significant savings with just a scroll of a thumb. Other retail outlets, especially coupon-friendly establishments such as grocery stores, would do well to mimic their system.

    Well played, Hobby Lobby. Well played.

    • Charlotte Deveers

      “Plus, the coupon can be used several times, meaning people can go back to the store over and over again, increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases and improving customer retention.”

      The coupon can be used several times, however, it can only be used once per day, per customer. So over the week that it is good for, you can use it each day of the week once, on one regular priced item each time. (If it is the 40% coupon, or the 25% coupon.) If it is specific to a brand, like Krylon, or Wilton, you may use it on all spray paint, or all Wilton at the time of purchase.

    • Charlotte Deveers

      Hobby Lobby does like to retain its customers, but Hobby Lobby does have “fine print,” to keep the system fair.

    • http://globerunnerseo.com Lauren

      Well, social convention would dictate people not turn around and reuse a coupon in the same day, but I’ve definitely run out of something and come back to Hobby Lobby the next day and reused their coupon. The difference between their coupon and Yowza’s is that any coupon Yowza offers exclusively is that you have a limited number of times to use a particular coupon code, and then it’s not available to you anymore. I haven’t seen Hobby Lobby on Yowza lately- maybe they were using Yowza while they transitioned to their proprietary system.

    • http://www.littlesebastien.com Sebastien

      It’s a good idea and adds convenience but I must add that I looked at it via my phone (a Sansung Freeform) and it looked like crap…nothing like the photo on here.

      Not everyone has an iphone and site designers need to remember that.