How do public promo codes work?

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How do public promo codes work?

dpd1

9:14 pm on Mar 3, 2014 (gmt 0)

Excuse my ignorance... I'm more a manufacturer than anything, and I don't do typical retail items. I was wondering a few days back, when I found a promo code to use on a shoes site... What is the benefit of doing this? I mean, I can understand maybe sending out unique promo codes to select customers, or doing something right on the site that states you have to put in a certain code... But what is the strategy behind having codes that you do NOT display on a site, yet you can find them on any decent coupon site? Are they just going after people who are smart enough to search for a code, but otherwise wouldn't buy stuff? I easily found a code for 35% off, which is pretty significant. Obviously the sales sites must know this is happening, as it would be easy enough to change daily.

mack

10:46 pm on Mar 6, 2014 (gmt 0)

It's all about getting you to the website in the first place. If you are looking for a product, you will already have an idea of a price in mind. If you can get the same product for less, you may be willing to spend a little bit more on something else.

I have never really understood placing codes prominently on a companies own website. The customer is already there, wait until they do not act before alerting them to savings :)

Mack.

not2easy

4:47 am on Mar 7, 2014 (gmt 0)

I have never really understood placing codes prominently on a companies own website. The customer is already there, wait until they do not act before alerting them to savings

The customer is already there, the merchant does not want them to open another tab to do a search for the coupon - where they have a good chance of being diverted to a different supplier of the same or similar goods. Once they are in the checkout and see that space for the code, it happens. Just about any search for "Merchant+Coupon" will usually give you more than a million results. That indicates how important it is for merchants to try to keep you from leaving their cart to search. Not all those search results actually have a valid coupon, it may be a redirect to a competitor or sometimes just the desire to give you a cookie to take back with you, or to a different shop.

Merchants often issue coupon codes to their existing customers, and that empty space in the checkout where those codes get entered is a frequent enough cause of cart desertion for it to be a smart move for a merchant to have at least a token code for those who don't bring one in.

piatkow

11:08 am on Mar 7, 2014 (gmt 0)

Merchants often issue coupon codes to their existing customers

I get a lot of those but I have also used some sites that I have never known offer any sort of discount which still have a space for codes. I suspect that the developer who installed the software left the default functionality available just in case.

I would have hidden it myself but then I have a dislike of redundant fields but that's another story.