Smart online shoppers always search the Web for a coupon before they make a purchase. RetailMeNot, one of the leading coupon Web sites, is also trying to offer coupons for mall shoppers via their cellphones.
The idea is the same as the paper coupons that people used to clip out of newspapers. But now they are delivered by RetailMeNot's new iPhone and Android apps when a shopper walks near one of hundreds of malls across the country.
RetailMeNot, which is owned by WhaleShark Media, the operator of several online coupon sites, realized that 20 percent of its traffic was coming from mobile devices, so it assumed people were searching for coupons in stores, not just when they were shopping online.
It has signed on more than 275 merchants, including Target, Macy's and J.C. Penney, and, in time for the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving start to the holiday shopping season, it will work at 500 malls.
The app uses geo-fencing, which takes a cellphone's lo cation data to send alerts when someone walks across a virtual perimeter. The notifications appear even if the app is not open. People show cashiers the coupons on their phones.
An average RetailMeNot user will see 38 coupons from 25 stores upon stepping near a mall, said John Faith, senior vice president of mobile at WhaleShark Media. The app also lets people search for coupons by store and save them and will use Apple Maps and Passbook to find nearby shops and store coupons.
For retailers, these mobile coupons are one of many experiments they are doing to figure out the best way to target consumers on their cellphones. Yet there are signs of deal fatigue. Some shoppers are growing tired of the barrage of offers, and businesses bemoan the loss of profits from giving so many discounts or do not want their coupons shared widely.
Still, Mr. Faith said more retailers were coming to terms with the fact that this was now how people shop.
“There's been a shift in merchants' attitude,†he said. Shoppers who have coupons are more likely to walk into a store or spend more on an e-commerce site, he said.
About a third of RetailMeNot's coupons are submitted by consumers. The rest come from retailers, who can submit them free or pay for better placement, which about 15 percent do. The new app provides a way for retailers to reach shoppers on their phones, Mr. Faith said.
“Everyday holiday shoppers aren't going to download every retailer's app,†he said.
RetailMeNot is also expanding into new types of stores, like fast-food restaurants. It has a new Facebook app and updated its Web site so shoppers can search for types of items, like e-readers or running shoes, instead of just searching by retailer.
