Unless you live in a cave in the Himalayas, it won’t surprise you to learn that deal seeking consumers completely dominate the web. This includes those searching out online coupons, mobile coupons and daily deal offers. Digital promotions have all but replaced your local weekly circular.
Blame it on TV shows like “Extreme Couponing” and the popularity of websites like Groupon & Living Social; deal hungry shoppers have taken to the web in droves seeking that ever elusive bargain. Couponing has attained mythical status amongst strained consumers, who marvel at those who manage to stockpile tens of thousands in consumables on a shoe string budget.
Studies conducted by eMarketer and others, estimate that 88.2 million US internet users will redeem an online coupon for either online or offline shopping this year, up from 83.6 million in 2010.
Forget the Sunday paper; free-standing inserts have the lowest redemption rate of all formats! Attention local advertisers: STOP WASTING YOUR MONEY ON NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING.
Instantly redeemable grocery coupons featured on the outside of a package were the most likely to be claimed, followed by coupons downloaded from the internet, at a whopping 16.9%.
Allow me to reiterate: Unless the coupon is stuck to the package that you pull off of the shelf, internet home printed coupons trump all other coupon sources. Consumers are scouring the internet for deals!
Home-printed coupons not only stand a better chance of being redeemed, they also attract more new buyers than traditional coupons. According to Knowledge Networks, nearly half of consumer packaged goods (CPG) coupon redeemers from 2008 to 2010 had not previously bought the promoted item compared to 34% that had used free-standing inserts.
Deal seeking consumers are here to stay, and coupons show no sign of falling out of favor with shoppers anytime soon. However, you need to be aware of the differences between delivery channels and formats. Digital’s ability to attract new buyers and provide solid redemption rates makes online coupons stand apart.
