AN INTERVIEW WITH :
Tiffany Tan
Senior Group Manager, Consumer and Shopper Promotions
Clorox Co.
Tiffany Tan is responsible for directing consumer and shopper promotions for Clorox’s laundry and homecare brands, including its namesake brand, Clorox Liquid Bleach. She spoke with eMarketer’s Tobi Elkin about the benefits of mobile coupons and how they fit into Clorox’s understanding of the consumer’s path to purchase.
eMarketer: How is Clorox using mobile coupons and what role do they play?
Tiffany Tan: We see really great potential in mobile couponing. In fact, we’re looking at mobile couponing as part of a broader step to examine how we talk to shoppers in the store. There’s a revolution in the path to purchase and we recognize that consumers pre-shop before they go into the store. So we want to talk to our consumers before they go to the store and also when they are in the store. We’re looking at mobile as part of this new and exciting mix of tactics that allows us to continue that dialogue we started with her outside the store, when she’s actually standing in the aisle.
eMarketer: What do you envision for mobile couponing?
Tan: Mobile couponing is being driven by the incredible growth in mobile overall. Our mom target, in particular, is increasingly using her mobile device. With over half of the population on smartphones by the end of this year, we want to make sure that we are everywhere she is. And that means talking to her through vehicles like mobile advertising, mobile couponing or other promotions and providing her with mobile content she can use to help formulate her shopping decisions. That may include things like branded apps or making sure our websites are mobilized so they render correctly on her phone.
eMarketer: From a brand marketer’s perspective, what are the drivers of mobile coupons?
Tan: It really has to do with the growth of mobile overall, and being able to be wherever our customer is. Mobile coupons offer a convenience factor—there’s nothing to sort or clip, and they’re there when our customers want them. We also want to attract a younger, more affluent target consumer.
eMarketer: What are the main challenges in offering mobile coupons?
Tan: From the CPG point of view, probably the biggest hurdle for mobile couponing is the limited distribution of what I’ll call a truly elegant solution. When we think of mobile coupons, we all envision something that you can just hold up to your mobile phone and scan for an instant discount at checkout.
But the reality is that most retailers where CPG products are sold don’t have a universal coupon reader system at the point of sale. That fact affects how elegantly our coupons can get implemented. As technology advances we will get there, but right now for CPG, mobile couponing probably isn’t what everyone imagines.
eMarketer: What would you like to be doing with mobile coupons?
Tan: Targetability based on prior purchase would certainly assist us as brand marketers. We’re talking about nirvana here. We would love to see a mobile interface that occurs at the shelf, because right now, when our consumer has a mobile coupon, it kind of fits in her mobile coupon wallet and it doesn’t necessarily show up until she’s at the checkout.
In an ideal world, we would like it to show up at the shelf—a consumer walks into the store, goes to the shelf and sees Clorox products. She checks out all the other brands that are available. She looks at her coupons and figures out what’s the best value. If we’re able to track it to that level, or if we can kind of crack the code on that, then we definitely will be able to tie the impact of coupons more tightly to overall lift and ROI for Clorox. That is nirvana.
