Apps Trump Paper in Coupon Wars

The number of voucher redemptions on apps has overtaken printed coupons, according to VoucherCodes.co.uk. The Quarterly Voucher Usage Report shows redemptions through the site’s iOS app outstripped redemptions through printable vouchers. In October 2011, the Vouchercodes App accounted for 20 per cent of offline voucher redemptions. Now, 52 per cent of all offline redemptions come via the app.

Mobile browsing has also seen sharp increases - a year ago 9 per cent of VoucherCodes.co.uk traffic came from mobile devices. This has risen to 25 per cent of all traffic to the site, a 194 per cent increase.

Apple products accounted for 80 per cent of this traffic. Samsung and HTC devices enjoy the next largest shares, with 6 and 4 per cent of mobile traffic respectively.

"With the general public smartphone equipped and the technology required to offer shoppers these solutions becoming more widely available, the voucher industry is poised to enter a period of significant mobile growth," says Max Jennings, co-founder of VoucherCodes.co.uk. "The final barrier to mass adoption is retailers themselves, as the integration of mobile technology into merchants’ point of sale till systems requires buy-in and serious investment."