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Vouchers vouchsafe e-commerce success

Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - 09:50 by Graham Miller

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Vouchers and discount codes are becoming an important part of shopping online, allowing consumers to get great deals and helping retailers win over new customers, according to expert Josephine Boyd.

A recent poll conducted by YouGov, discovered that around 60 per cent of UK consumers use a voucher code site or service in order to choose where they go when they eat out or shop.

Retailers and restaurant chains are making the most out of vouchers to draw in people who search online for local services and then visit the one which they perceive to have offered them the best possible deal.

Vouchers are becoming a key asset of both traditional e-commerce platforms and now the emerging m-commerce market.

People who are able to browse vouchers from their home PC and then email a code or form to their smartphones can then take their discount coupon with them without having to print anything out, as has been necessary in the past.

The flexibility of smartphones means that an emerging range of voucher applications are allowing even greater access to discounts for consumers who are on the move.

By allowing consumers to search for value enhancing vouchers on their mobiles, it means they are no longer tethered to their computers when they carry out safe shopping online.

It is this multichannel approach which will get people back out and onto the high street to spend their cash without having a negative impact on e-commerce sites and service providers.

Ms Boyd highlighted the decision-making power of vouchers, suggesting that in these tough economic times it can often be a matter of picking the biggest discount, rather than choosing the shop or eatery for which you have a long standing loyalty. This marks a major change in habits, all thanks to e-commerce innovation.