CouponWorkshop

This page is for discussion about a possible W3C Workshop on Digital Coupons on the Web. Questions? Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>.

STATUS: There is no consensus for this proposal; it is for discussion.

Goal

When people browse the Web today they cannot acquire coupons that can be easily managed and redeemed while shopping online.

• eMarketer: "Retailers can attest that the biggest hurdle for uptake is getting digital coupons in front of consumers."
• 2017 Inmar Promotion Industry Analysis via couponsinthenews: Coupon usage is falling. 63% of survey respondents said “my coupons expire before I have a chance to use them” and “I can’t find coupons for the products that I want to buy,” while 48% said “it takes too much time to find coupons”.

While the Web enables brands to advertise their products, there is no open loop system that enables brands to distribute coupons to customers that may be redeemed at participating merchants. Merchants are having mixed results with native app solutions. Yet industry foresees growing opportunities for digital coupon redemption.

• Juniper Research: "[...] Juniper Research has found that the value of digital coupon redemptions will surge to $91 billion by 2022, up from $47 billion in 2017."
• Juniper Research: "Additionally, technologies which streamline the shopping experience, such as invisible payments, or provide additional information and linked offers, such as with QR codes, will greatly enhance the in-store experience, driving footfall for physical retailers."

Web interoperability has the potential to facilitate merchant access to investments by brands. With Payment Request API, for example, the browser facilitates the collection of data with a superior user experience and lower integration cost.

Because that API is gaining traction, we are organizing this Workshop to explore whether the industry is similarly interested in easier and more secure usage of digital coupons on the Web.

Agenda Ideas

• Challenges to and opportunities for interoperability between coupon distributors and merchants, so that the user can acquire coupons easily via the Web from a variety of distributors, and redeem them at a variety of (participating) merchants.
• Requirements of different parts of the industry: merchants, makers of consumer package goods, coupon distribution services, browsers, advertisers, users, standards bodies and industry groups.
• Browser capabilities to enable a streamlined user experience for acquiring and redeeming digital coupons.
• Reducing incompatibility between in-store coupon systems and online coupon systems, even within the same company.
• Coupon policy management and the relationship to W3C authentication and identity activities.
• Raising awareness of related standardization activities.

Logistics

• Where:
• When: