Who isn’t attracted to a discount offer? And when it is attractively packed and gives a customer the freedom to avail it within a specific time period, well, then you have a winning marketing strategy. Inventory and retail management also require coming up with workable marketing strategies and this is what makes discount campaigns so important.

You might think that since you are already offering a discount campaign, coupons will be redundant.

No. They aren’t.

Discount coupons appeal at an entirely different psychological level. Here you are actually giving away something tangible to customers; it is like a gift that they can even pass on to friends.

What is a Discount Coupon?

A discount Coupon is a kind of voucher that can be redeemed for free samples or a certain amount of discount while making a purchase. Coupons that are issued by retailers can be used in a number of ways. Some of the uses of coupons include:

• They provide an alternative way to boost sales by offering discount coupons when customers cross a certain purchase threshold
• They help you introduce and launch new products by giving away free samples
• They help you create a special event based discounts campaigns
• They can help send targeted messages and engage new and existing customers and drive more sales
• They can work as a word-of-mouth promotion technique when customers give away coupons to their friends.

In this article, we will provide a step-by-step guide to creating and managing coupons in Candela Inventory Management Software in five easy steps. Let’s get started!

Create a Coupon

Open Generate Discount Coupon screen

Go to: Configuration>Misc>Generate Discount Coupon

To begin with, give a title to your coupon. Some options are gift coupons, discount coupons, birthday coupons, etc.

Decide on the number of coupons you want to create. You can create a different number of coupons for different coupon titles. For example, you can create an event-based coupon called ‘Eid gift’ and generate 100 coupons for it; and create another coupon called ‘Shop opening discount’ and generate 50 coupons for it. And so on.

Give the date range within which the coupon will remain active.

Set a discount limit for the coupon that you wish to offer. Setting a discount limit will limit the discount to the defined limit. For example, if you have set the limit at 1000 Rs the system will not let the discount amount exceed 1000.

Choose the product lines on which the discount should apply. You can apply different discount percentages for different product lines (line items).

There is an option to give a hundred percent discount for a particular product line. This option can be used if you want to give away certain items as free-of-cost samples. To make this option applicable, you can either write 100 percent in list view for that particular line:

 Or you can click Apply 100% discount button. This will, however, apply a 100% discount to all line items in the grid, and to change the discount percentage for any line item in the grid you will have to

enter the percentage manually against each line item in the grid.

Click Generate button to create coupons.

Print Coupons

Click the Records tab to check your created coupons. Select the ones you want to print and click the print icon.

You have the option to issue printed coupons or export the coupon number file in excel and SMS the numbers to both potential and existing customers.

Distribute Coupons

There are different ways to distribute coupons. You can distribute coupons to your walk-in customers; send them through the internet or SMS campaigns.  Coupons can also be distributed through the mail, with newspapers, etc.

Coupon Redemption

Coupons created in Candela automatically have unique barcodes as protection from unauthorized copying and use. When a customer brings a coupon for redemption, you will carry out the following steps:

• Load products that the customers want to purchase.
• Press Shift+F10
• A screen will pop up
• Enter the coupon number or swipe the coupon code

Check the Status of Coupons in your System

Each coupon (or coupon number) is unique and can only be used once. The status of unused coupons will remain ‘Active.’

To check the status, go to Reports>J-12 Coupon Status Report. Select the coupon title and check the status of coupons of that particular type. You can also check the items sold against a particular coupon. Go to Reports>C-21 Coupon Sales report. Here enter the title of the coupon and generate the report.

Creating, printing, and managing coupons in Candela is easy.  So go ahead and create some awesome coupons to kick-start your new year and make your customers happy!