Market analyst firm Juniper Research has forecasted that consumer usage of mobile coupons will generate close to $6 billion globally in retail redemption value by 2014.

The report titled “Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014” comes barely a day after Sprint (News - Alert) announced that it will soon deliver mobile discount coupons for extremely overpriced drinks and snacks at over 500 movie theaters across the United States.

Juniper’s report cautions that user apathy amongst the wider public, as well as lack of willingness to change and learn a new method of making financial transactions are potential stumbling blocks standing in the way of mobile coupons.

Mobile coupons certainly have the potential to grow given the recent NFC trial which showed very high levels of user acceptance for coupons.

 

Juniper Research (News - Alert) forecasts that by 2014 more than one in ten mobile subscribers in 10 developed regions will use mobile coupons.

 

“Marketers can use the mobile device as the ultimate personal marketing channel. It is almost permanently switched on and physically with the consumer. This makes a great opportunity for brands and marketing agencies to access clients immediately, driving footfall and encouraging an instant decision,” explains Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research and lead report author, in a release.

 

Juniper says smart posters with embedded NFC tags will bring to life static billboards, creating immediate interaction between potential customers and their prospective purchases.

By simply passing their device close to the tag (News - Alert), users can take away a coupon or product information that can result in purchase decisions.

Interestingly, Juniper predicts, ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions. And the vast majority of mobile coupon redemption value will be generated by the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America in 2014.

 

The report contains six year forecasting for all the key market parameters including users, redemption rates, values and incremental ARPU for all mobile coupons, NFC coupons and NFC smart posters.