RetailMeNot worked with The Omnibus Company on its new mobile coupon survey and includes results from more than 1,000 United States consumers that were collected between April 12 – 17. Retailers still have aways to go when it comes to getting contextually-relevant mobile offers right, but leveraging location is a step in the right direction.

“The key to deploying a successful, savvy mobile coupon strategy can be summed up within one word — relevancy,” said John Faith, senior vice president of external affairs at RetailMeNot, Austin.

“Serving up the right content at the right time in the shopping cycle is the difference between a completed transaction versus a consumer who walks out of your store,” he said.

Mobile shoppers
The RetailMeNot study suggests that mobile shoppers are deal-hunters.

For example, 33 percent of consumers said that they had conducted a search on a mobile device for an online coupon.

Additionally, 26 percent of consumers bought something in a physical store using a mobile coupon. Interestingly, 90 percent of these users had completed the task within the past month.

There are some differences between demographics here, too. Thirty-nine percent of consumers aged 18-34 years old have bought something in a physical store with a mobile coupon that they found. Eighteen percent of consumers over the age of 35 years old said the same.

Sixty-three percent of consumers said that if they received a mobile coupon when they were already in a store, they would be more likely to buy something, likely because they are already in a shopping mode.

When it comes to using mobile to drive online sales, the study found that 54 percent of consumers bought something via their mobile devices in the past month.

Sixty-one percent of men and 48 percent of women bought something via their mobile devices.

Additionally, 71 percent of consumers in the 18-34 year-old bracket used their mobile device for a coupon that was used for an online sale. Forty-two percent of consumers aged 35 years or older said the same.

Mobile influence
Research is also a big part of how consumers use their mobile devices to shop. Eight in ten consumers surveyed said that they had used their mobile devices to research a buying decision in the past month.

The consumers using their mobile devices to scour for coupons also skew towards younger consumers.

Forty-four percent of consumers aged 18-34 years old surveyed said that they had searched for a coupon via a mobile device compared to 26 percent of users aged 35 years or older.

Additionally, parents are more interested than non-parents when it comes to using mobile to find deals. Forty-five percent of parents searched for a coupon through their mobile device, and 27 percent of non-parents said the same.

Thirty-seven percent of parents actually bought something in-store as a result of tracking down a mobile coupon versus the 21 percent of non-parents that said the same.

“By using location-aware technologies and employing sophisticated big data solutions, retailers have unprecedented opportunities to incentivize consumers to make a purchase on a product that has relevancy in their lives,” Mr. Faith said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York