Coupons are a staple of the retail industry and have remained so no matter how often the shopping experience has evolved. They can help drive sales and encourage shopper loyalty while providing businesses with important data. When placed online, promotional codes help indicate the effectiveness of advertising or other marketing efforts. They are not without their problems, since physical coupons can slow down lines at the point of sale when staff members must scan barcodes or enter other details, but recent innovations have streamlined this process. Namely, digital coupons can quickly be moved through and scanned. 

As ecommerce and mcommerce gain more widespread acceptance, it comes as no surprise that electronic coupon use has also risen. According to eMarketer, digital coupons are being used by the majority (52 percent) of adult United States Internet users for the first time. This represents a total of 102.5 million consumers, and is an 11 percent increase from 2012. 

Since eMarketer anticipates the percentage of digital coupon users to rise thanks to growing mobile device ownership, merchants should expect to process more smartphone-based discounts at the POS. Deploying versatile retail software that can meet this demand will help improve customers' shopping experiences and avoid backed up lines.