The current coupon barcode and its promotional ecosystem is broken and rife with fraud. Several years ago industry groups began the development of a new, more secure barcode, called AI (8112). The Coupon Bureau (TCB) was chosen to head up the project and develop the technology. By enabling real-time validation at a national level, CPGs and their brands will be able to confidently and more effectively market to consumers via the coupon medium.

As a consumer, you typically likely see this standard on a regular basis in the form of the numeric prefixes used in barcodes that define all of the associated metadata of a coupon. When you receive a digital or physical ad with a barcode for $1 off that toothpaste, you’re likely making use of it.

To date, this has been a siloed process managed by each individual party. When a coupon is redeemed it is up to each to keep their data in sync. With this model it is common to have data that is outdated or less granular that creates opportunity for inefficiencies or worse, fraud.

Their new standard, in collaboration with the Joint Industry Coupon Council, led by companies like Target and General Mills, solves for this by using a unique combination of a singular universal network, while including the trust and transparency of a decentralized public network for transaction data capture. The Application Identifier 8112 for Coupon Data Specifications establishes a singular positive offer file for single use and retailer agnostic coupons, with the registration and redemption transaction tools built on Hedera Hashgraph.

Coupons managed via the Hedera Consensus Service API

Increased traceability

Each coupon creation and redemption is tracked. At each stage of the coupon lifecycle a transaction is sent to Hedera using the Hedera Consensus Service. The fast, low-cost API provides the Coupon Bureau and its partners a single, trusted view. Each transaction sent to Hedera returns a consensus timestamp with strong ordering guarantees to affirm the active state of the coupon. Since Hedera is a public network, each authorized party is able to see the latest updates and, optionally, store the data in their database of choice.

Fraud prevention

Hedera’s high performance with consensus finality in seconds allows for all parties to have a consistent view of data. Through real-time authentication of coupons, this new positive offer file can remove the redemption of fraudulent offers.

Going forward this architecture opens new opportunities. The Coupon Bureau expects real-time auditability to increase the confidence of large manufacturers, increasing the number of coupons in the market. Consumers can also expect to see coupons that are able to be readily used in more locations. By providing a single, trusted standard for coupons any offer can be redeemed at any retailer connected to the network.

For a deeper dive into The Coupon Bureau's implementation of Hedera read the case study, From Barcode to Public Ledger: Reducing Coupon Fraud with Hedera Hashgraph.