Couponstar launches shopping research website
A website designed to influence the in-store purchasing behaviour of consumers, has been launched by UK interactive coupon provider Couponstar.
The beforeishop platform includes a multi-brand, pre-shopping destination website (www.beforeIshop.co.uk) as well as a network of publisher branded microsites. It is targeted at influencing consumers who are planning their supermarket or high street shop.
Couponstar said in a statement: “Based on the core consumer proposition of providing users with the tools to save both time and money by doing their research online prior to hitting the shops, beforeIshop allows brands to target household shoppers with relevant messages and promotions whilst they are in the comfort of their own home or desk.”
The platform is an extension of CouponNET, the company’s multi-brand online printable grocery coupon network.
Couponstar says a number of publishers and brands have already signed up to the beforeIshop launch programme, including Asda.com, GMTV, UKTV Good Food and Tesco Diets, with other publishers, brands and retailers due to go live over the coming weeks and months.
This platform seeks to provide a way for relatively low-involvement grocery brands and supermarkets to engage with their core consumers online, and then influence and track their in-store purchasing behaviour through the use of printable coupons or other mechanisms.
Brands can combine a variety of engagement tools with printable coupons. These tools – which include videos, games, competitions, sampling, registrations, surveys, cash rebates and ad features – promote interactions between the consumer and the brand on multiple levels, and can be paired up with a printable coupon.
Jo Malvern, product and marketing director for beforeIshop, commented: “The recent recession has changed consumer behaviour in a fundamental way; consumers now expect additional value from almost every transaction, including when they are in the supermarket, and the challenge to marketers is to meet this expectation without compromising on their own brand values or positioning.
“We found from our research that whilst marketers recognise the role that price promotions play in attracting and keeping customers, there is increasing pressure to ensure that this investment has a longer term effect.”