Not every shopper buys the idea of freebies

Whether or not discount vouchers and coupons are indeed healthy on the wallet, there seems to be a great divide among saving-savvy UAE consumers and retailers.

For Naina Nair, an expatriate from India, discount vouchers are a great way to save money while shopping and dining. Nair has recently received several books of discount coupons through Gulf News' Good Living subscriber promotion.

As a reward, annual and renewing subscribers of Gulf News have received a set of five books comprising 3,000 vouchers that offer discounts on dining, shopping, gaming, spa-pampering, leisure and entertainment at 1,000 outlets in the UAE.

Total savings that one can get from the vouchers is estimated to be worth Dh150,000.

"Vouchers or discount coupons are definitely beneficial for people who shop and spend. There are many discount vouchers in the Good Living books which Gulf News subscribers have received.

"I think most people will use the vouchers which I personally find very interesting and I'm planning to use them during the year. The benefit is available, though, only when you spend. So, the more you spend, the more you save," Nair points out.

Consumers and supplier

Gregory Gomes from India says discount vouchers indeed work well for both the consumers and the suppliers. "But it works for you (as a consumer) only if you use it to buy what you need or within your budget," he notes.

"Discount coupons are helpful and are a good motivational factor for consumers to spend. I have saved money using them.

I just hope that suppliers don't jack up their prices to cover the amount of discounts they're offering. If they do that, it will be pointless to issue discount coupons because people usually know the price of goods in the market," adds Tarek Jaffar from Pakistan.

However, some consumers argue that vouchers are just a marketing ploy to lure consumers into spending more money and that most discounts are too small to make a difference in savings.

Raza Rashid, another UAE resident, believes so, saying that some discount vouchers don't actually offer real value.

"Retailers or manufacturers increase their prices and then issue discount vouchers so they get more sales or profits, leaving no real benefit to the consumer," says Rashid.

"We think that these are helpful but for every Dh50 or Dh100 voucher you have, you spend more money (to buy what you want). It translates to extra expenses," adds Shahzad Shaikh from Pakistan.

No gimmicks

Reen Bedi, marketing manager at Shoe Mart, disagrees, saying there are no gimmicks involved in coupon campaigns. "It clearly depends on the credibility of the brand.

Consumers welcome such offers on their favourite brands as these discounts are always offered on new season merchandise," Bedi points out.

"Discount vouchers are great savings for a customer who shops with the brand. These are usually on full price items and, from a customer's point of view, are good deals on new arrivals," adds Faisal Shabbir, marketing manager for international brands at Shoe Mart.

Whether or not a coupon campaign is only a marketing gambit is a matter purely of opinion, says Devayani Dayal, marketing manager at Beautybay, a retailer selling internationally renowned beauty products.

"This depends largely on how you view a promotion. For example, if a consumer has oily skin while the product on offer [in the voucher] is for dry skin, the consumer will not buy the product regardless of how great the deal is.

"Similarly, as a marketer, the point of promotions is to increase the perceived value of the product a consumer buys. Here, the act of buying is an inherent expectation and not a hope," says Dayal.

"Therefore, promotions, at best, increase the total amount a consumer spends. At worst, they convince an indecisive consumer to buy a product," Dayal adds.