In a recent post, I was commenting on the return of coupons to the mainstream of marketing. One nice side benefit of this is that couponing is now important enough that folks want to harness the latest technologies and focus them on couponing. In a nutshell, electronic couponing is finally ready to happen.

After fooling around with various versions of paperless, electronic couponing for almost a decade, the stars have now aligned and it is ready to become a reality. Consumers want coupons delivered to their computers, their phones and their PDAs, they don’t want to have to carry little slips of paper, and, most importantly, they want the coupons that they want. These things are now ready to happen.

The combination of the current economic climate, the willingness of key leaders (P&G, Safeway and Kroger) to make it happen and the maturity of the enabling technologies means that after years of creeping forward, electronic couponing is ready to dominate. All you need to do is review the pages of Progressive Grocer, which has featured at least one major announcement of a new electronic couponing program by a major player in each of the last five issues.

Retailers and manufacturers need to be ready for these innovations. Those who are not will be left behind. And marketing services companies have huge opportunities to create new businesses supporting this emerging industry