• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, February 10, 2016

Beacons are driving mobile coupons and redemption rates are on the rise.

Several new studies are out indicating that the growth of beacons around the world is on the march and that when shoppers get a mobile coupon, offer redemption is right behind, sometimes in fewer than two minutes.

Beacons add a finer touch to location-based offers, since the small radio-transmitting devices can be located near specific products or in certain departments.

Brands have found that coupons with a location element typically enjoy far higher redemption rates than those without.

Many major retailers, including Macy’s, Target and Lord & Taylor, have installed thousands of beacons, many to learn the ins and outs of what works and what doesn’t.

And the beacon phenomenon is global, with deployments in various locations, based on a study by Juniper Research. Some examples:

• U.K. -- House of Fraser and Waitrose installed beacons in their stores
• China – Beacons were installed in about 1,500 Pizza Hut restaurants to push coupons
• Japan – Sensoro partnered with Chinese chain store operator Cyber Group to deploy beacons across Japan and the Greater China region

By 2020, beacons will be used to distribute 1.6 billion coupons, an increase from just 11 million this year, according to Juniper.

Another study forecasts beacon growth at retail at 17% a year until 2020.

And it’s not only Apple’s iBeacon technology responsible, with beacon platforms Google Eddystone and Microsoft 10 also contributing to growth, according to a study by the research firm Technavio.

But the global Bluetooth market is dominated by North America, where more than a third (37%) of beacons shipped to retailers globally will end up.

As might be expected, the U.S. accounts for most (84%) of the beacons coming to retailers in North America and it also led in overall beacon market share last year.

Europe is the second largest region for beacons and the three major markets there are Germany, the U.K. and France, according to Technavio. In those markets, beacons are big in hypermarkets and supermarkets.

The growth of beacons is significant since location-based coupons sent to mobile phones work.

And based on another recent study, those coupons are quickly cashed in.

Some coupons are redeemed in under two minutes, according to the study which was based on an analysis of several thousand campaigns by Koupon Media, which examined how customers engage with mobile coupons.

The study broke down redemption rates by product type at convenience stores, with energy drinks leading the way. Here are mobile coupon redemption rates:

• 43% -- Energy drinks
• 17% -- Soda
• 15% -- Juice
• 12% -- Coffee
• 11% -- Food
• 5% -- Candy
• 4% -- Water
• 2% -- Snacks

Interestingly, the majority (65%) of customers redeem an offer within five minutes of seeing it. And most are very fast, with 58% redeeming an offer within two minutes. Here’s the time to redemption of mobile coupons:

• 58% -- 0-2 minutes
• 13% -- Beyond a day
• 11% -- 5 minutes to 1 hour
• 8% -- 1-12 hours
• 7% -- 2-5 minutes
• 4% -- 12 hours to a day

In the mobile coupon trivia department, the highest convenience store mobile coupons redemption day is Friday and the peak time is around 5 p.m., based on data from more than 28,000 convenience stores.

And we know from numerous studies that mobile shoppers are looking for deals.

And many of those deals will be coming via beacon-triggered messaging. And cashing in on those coupons will very quickly follow.