Building Your Retail Business: Why It Doesn’t Pay To Be A Coupon Cop

Like many retailers, you may occasionally use coupons to drive foot traffic, increase revenue and clean out your inventory.  And it is smart to put an expiration date on your promotional or discount coupons to encourage people to act quickly or within a given time frame.  But it’s not smart to make an issue of coupons that show up after the expiration date.

 

 

If someone presents a coupon with an expired date, it is usually a good business practice to honor it.  After all, you have already gone to the expense of printing the coupons, advertising your offer and buying the inventory.  Furthermore, saying no may cause you to lose an existing customer or convince a first time guest to never give your restaurant another chance.

Like any business, one of the primary keys to success in the retail industry building a large contingent of loyal, repeat customers.  And given the future sales value of a loyal, repeat customer and the cost of acquiring new ones, saying “yes” with a smile, to a recently expired coupon or sale offer may very well be the sensible thing to do.