New iPhone App Offers Eco-Friendly Discounts
Forget about flipping through and cutting out those coupons you receive in the mail. Consumers now have a new way to get their discounts without using a single sheet of paper. Coupon Sherpa is the new iPhone app that allows shoppers to access in-store coupons on their iPhone or iPod Touch.
Coupon Sherpa offers electronic coupons for more than 100 retailers nationwide. Photo: Appbeacon.com
Available for $1.99, the Coupon Sherpa app offers discounts for more than 100 participating retailers including Bloomingdales, GNC, JCPenney, Kmart, Office Depot, TGI Friday’s and Walgreens. Users can access coupons for clothing, electronics, restaurants, sporting goods and even local services.
“We are changing the way people use coupons. We believe this is the future of shopping,” says Luke Knowles, who created Coupon Sherpa with his brother, Jesse Knowles. “A friend of ours mentioned that he longed for the day when many in-store coupons would be available on the iPhone. We thought that was a good idea and set out to make it a reality.”
Coupon Sherpa is easy to use. When opening the app, the user is able to view all of the available stores. Simply choose your desired store, and your choice of available coupons will appear. For example, Jackson Hewitt offers a coupon for 25 percent off tax preparation (which could come in handy right now). You can find a store’s nearest location and even email the coupon.
When redeeming the discount, simply view the coupon on your phone and show it to a Jackson Hewitt employee. Three clicks and you’re saving money.
Electronic coupons may be a solution to the piles of commercial mail consumers receive. According to a report by the nonprofit group ForestEthics, “mail advertisements create 51.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year.” That’s equivalent to the emissions generated by heating about 13 million homes or mowing more than 20 billion lawns. With electronic coupons, you may be able to reduce your commercial mail while still retaining those discounts.
Knowles believes his new app is just the beginning of a big future for electronic coupons. He says the option is a great one for retailers because they can post an unlimited number of coupons for free. With more than 20 million iPhone users, that’s a lot of traffic.
“In the future, most coupons will be presented on mobile devices,” Knowles says. “Retailers who become involved now, when the trend is new, can differentiate themselves from their competition.”
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William
posted on April 15th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
What an awesome common sense tool.
ForestEthics’ Do Not Mail campaign has a petition calling for a national Do Not Mail Registry that would allow Americans to opt out of wasteful and annoying junk mail.
Sign the petition at donotmail.org !
eucarya
posted on April 15th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I tried a “mobile coupon” the other day at the car wash, they looked at me like i was from outer space and said they couldn’t accept it. I’m glad to see there is an organized effort around making this more commonplace, both out of convenience and for the environment.
Lori Brown
posted on April 15th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I’m sure it will take retailers some time to get used to the electronic coupons as many stores keep the physical coupons for accounting purposes (the Coupon Sherpa partners must already have a system in place). I think as other retailers jump on board, this will be a great program…now I just need to get an iPhone :)
Missy
posted on April 20th, 2009 at 8:54 am
When retailers adopt mobile coupons they need to first let their employees know and make it known that they accept these coupons – because as Eucarya already pointed out above – what’s the point of signing up and paying for this iPhone app (a/k/a convenience) and then being looked at like one’s “from outer space”.
Retailers need to get on board and make sure their front line employees, are too.
Ana
posted on April 25th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
There is actually a couple of loadable coupon programs out there that load them on to your store discount cards, like the kroger or cvs customer cards. When you buy the products you load the coupon for it automatically uses the coupon so that you don’t have to show anything. Since it is in the system the cashier doesn’t even have to know about it… even though once I misread a coupon when I loaded it and asked the cashier about it and they were so confused… I like that all I have to remember is to buy the product.