A scannable coupon, such as a bar code, is generated on a configurable display of a portable electronic device, such as a personal digital assistant, handheld computer, or mobile telephone. The display has sufficient resolution and contrast to be scanned at a point-of-sale computer for redemption of the coupon. In a further embodiment, generic coupon information is sent to the portable electronic device, which can generate a scannable coupon in any one of several formats. In another embodiment, coupon information is sent in one format and the portable electronic device converts it to another format. In yet a further embodiment, a number of coupons are stored in a data structure according to a redemption characteristic, and may be serially displayed according to user input, such as pushing a step key.