ReadWrite : Success for Mobile Coupons Begins at the Register

This article by Read Write's Chris Cameron provides a good summary of the challenges still facing mobile coupons. Highlights are:

• "Point of sale redemption is key to mobile vouchers/codes." As he points out, mobile coupons have been a common idea for startups over the last decade, but it hasn't been until now with current smart-phone technology that the idea has seemed relatively viable. The other factor that he says is pushing the mobile voucher market is support from major vendors.
• "US retailers Kroger and Target have begun issuing money off 'digital coupons' that can be downloaded to mobile phones and scanned against purchases at the store check out," writes Brisbourne. "Similarly in Japan at McDonald's users can download a coupon and then wave the phone over a reader at the till to receive a discounted price, and if they are on the right network they can even have the cost of the meal added to their mobile bill."
• While a large store like Target may be open to this type of marketing, they are tasked with informing and educating their entire staff of check-out clerks and managers on the new technology. I've heard more than a handful of people tell me they have had to convince a store clerk of the validity of their coupon when attempting to use a mobile voucher.
• "The obvious consumer oriented startup opportunity lies in driving people into real world stores by getting them to download coupons onto their mobile phones, and then taking a slice of the transaction - this is in many ways a real world parallel to the online affiliate network opportunity," he says.

I also agree with the article's main thesis that the point-of-sale is the most important factor of the mobile coupon market. All the partnerships and ad networks in the world are useless if the technology isn't in place to make the process simple and easy for both the customer and the clerk working the register.

Rade the complete article at ReadWriteWeb.com