Target’s App Now Lets Users Clip Coupons

The old method of consumer retail savings is meeting the new in Target’s shopping app.

TechCrunch reports that Target has expanded its app, Cartwheel, so that it now includes the capability to support manufacturers’ digital coupons, making a wider range of products available for discounted prices, which contrasts Cartwheel’s previous application offering partial discounts off select goods.

Part of Cartwheel’s new functionality, notes the outlet, is a digital update of the analog method of couponing. From the app, consumers can clip digital coupons that, in some cases, are the same ones found in the local newspaper.

As TechCrunch points out, this digital method of coupon clipping increases Target shoppers’ potential savings, given that manufacturers’ coupons frequently offer greater discounts on items than are made available through the aforementioned percentage-based savings model.

The digital coupon company Quotient (formerly Coupons.com) partnered with Target in developing the new service on Cartwheel, and TechCrunch notes that the retailer will be relying on Quotient’s database of coupons to be made available on the app, rather than arranging those deals with manufacturers.

Target had been testing the digital coupons — currently numbering around 40, reports the outlet — over the last few months but, only yesterday (April 4), did the retailer make an official announcement about the app-linked offering.

The TechCrunch story puts forth that Cartwheel — which Target says is used by millions of consumers who have saved more than $475 million with it since the app was launched in 2013 — has now come to serve a dual purpose towards the retail chain’s goals. There’s the obvious one of compelling shopping through savings, while the app (and its new capabilities) is also representative of Target’s larger goal to implement more innovative technologies at its stores.