Coupons.com has just unveiled an update that will allow up to 96 million people to print more of its coupons, representing significant potential savings for consumers, and significant potential earnings for Coupons.com.
The printable coupon site this week updated its Android app, giving mobile phone users the ability to print coupons directly to a wireless printer. “We heard you loud and clear and coupon printing is finally here!” Coupons.com announced on its app page in the Google Play store. “Print amazing grocery coupons directly from your Android phone!”
Before, this option was available only to Apple users. If you’re one of the majority of Americans who use an Android device, however, you were limited to printing from a desktop or laptop and a hardwired printer. You know, the “old-fashioned” way.
It’s a big convenience for coupon users who, like more and more people these days, spend more time on their phones than sitting in front of a computer. For the more serious couponer, it also allows for plenty of extra coupon prints – if you have a desktop, laptop and at least a couple of cell phones in the house, it’s easy to gather a nice little stack of like coupons, at two coupon prints per device.
It’s also a good move for Coupons.com itself. According to the most recent figures from internet analytics company comScore, there are some 75.7 million Apple smartphone users in the U.S., but 96.6 million Android users. By updating its Android app, the company adds a huge number of potential new coupon clippers to its user base. Granted, many of those may already be desktop users, and many others may not be coupon users at all, so certainly not all 96 million will suddenly start printing coupons via the Android app now. But even if only a fraction do, that still equals more coupon prints – and more revenue – for Coupons.com.
That’s because companies pay Coupons.com per transaction, which is defined as a coupon print – not a coupon that’s actually used. Coupons.com earns an average of 10 cents per transaction. So if, say, a million Android users now print a few coupons per day via the app, that amounts to several hundred thousand dollars a day in added revenue for Coupons.com.
Not a bad payday for updating that app.
Apple users have had the ability to print via Coupons.com’s iOS app for several years now. But not every Apple, or Android user, is able to print wirelessly. For now, Android printing is limited to smartphones, not tablets. And, like the iOS app, the Android app only works with “compatible printers” – but Coupons.com doesn’t provide a list of what printers are actually compatible. So if you have a wireless printer, you can roll the dice and see if the app can detect your printer. If you don’t have a wireless printer, you can roll the dice and buy one, and cross your fingers that it works with the app.
Some app users have already rolled the dice – and lost. “I was really excited to be able to print from my Android phone then I see that I can’t print to my wireless printer,” one Android app reviewer wrote. “Deleting again.” Several others have also complained that their printers are not supported. But others are thrilled that theirs are. “FINALLY, at last I can print from my Android! It works perfectly,” one reviewer wrote. “This app is AMAZING! I love being able to print right from my phone!” another commented.
All this talk of coupon printing comes at a curious time, just days after Coupons.com leadership downplayed printable coupons’ role in the company’s future. Within four years, CEO Steven Boal said, the printable coupon company expects at least 50% of its business to be from mobile, paperless coupons. And eventually, he predicts that will grow to 100%.
That spooked printable coupon fans, many of whom like their printables more than they do digital coupons. It also left many investors unimpressed, as they drove down Coupons.com’s stock price in response to the company’s lackluster financial guidance.
Still, Coupons.com insists that the future is bright, and allowing millions more users to print their coupons wirelessly is a step in the right direction. “The objective here is to reach consumers, where they want to be met,” Boal told investors this week. “That may be digital print on a recipe website. It may be paperless on a mobile phone.”
Or it may be printables via a mobile phone. That is, just as long as your wireless printer is compatible.
I have a HP envy printer and I have trouble with my android finding my printer .:((
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This work for me and I am so excited to have another device to print from. Thanks for this article it was very helpful.
Sadly the app doesn’t support my Hewlett Packard. Would have been a great couponing boost if it worked! It also seems that the expiry dates on the app are quite a bit further out which would have been wonderful to have. For example the sugar in the raw coupon I just printed has an expiry date one month from now, on the app it says use by 31st May. Very disappointed this doesn’t work with my printer.