The economic downturn, credit crunch, depression... whatever
you want to call it has had an effect on retailers the world over. One age old
solution to this is couponing, a smart piece of thinking in itself. Rather than
discounting everything (and risk giving a discount to those willing to pay full
price) you are able to more specifically target those who would not buy without
this discount.
Couponing is an extremely over-used and basic promotional
technique almost always applied to fmcg products, as by their nature they are quick,
disposable discounts.
IKEA Australia, an smcg company, looked at the over crowded couponing
world and saw an opportunity to innovate...
So what is so special about IKEA calling their coupons rent
cheques?
1.
By trading the rent cheques for space in your
home they immediately seem more valuable than coupons given away for free.
2. By making the process by which you receive these
coupons memorable they achieve cut through in a very crowded market.
3. Any stigma attached to the idea of using coupons
is removed as A) this money off has been earned and B) they aren’t called
coupons.
4. The monthly process ties you in emotionally. A
coupon is easy to throw away but 12 coupons earned across a year!?!?! A
scandalous waste of money...
5. The catalogue acts as a miniature advertisement
in your house.
The real genius in this process is understanding people,
more specifically how people buy furniture. We like to peruse all the options,
think about it for a while and above all we are attracted to as big a discount
as possible.
‘Rent cheques’ is a really smart piece of divergent
thinking.
Put simply every month you are reminded that you are building
up a big discount at IKEA whilst you look through the catalogue deciding what
to spend it on.
By the end of this process I won’t just know what sofa I am
buying, I’ll know the whole catalogue inside out.
PS. I can’t think of one other example of couponing worth
talking about. Any suggestions?
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