Internet coupon usage up 83%

Internet coupons are of increasing interest to consumers, according to a recent analysis by Scarborough Research. 11% of households currently obtain coupons via the Internet, and this has increased 83% since 2005. However, the Sunday newspaper remains the number one place for acquiring household coupons. 53% of households get their coupons from the Sunday newspaper. Other leading places for acquiring coupons include the mail (35% of households usually obtain coupons via the mail), in-store coupons (33%), preferred customer/loyalty cards (22%), in-store circulars (22%), weekday newspapers (17%), product packages (17%) and magazines (15%). All of the coupon acquisition categories have experienced growth since 2005, however none at the level of Internet coupons.

“With prices for consumer goods rising, we can only expect that a ‘good deal’ is of increasing importance to shoppers. Coupons are one of several economically-focused promotional tools that stores and product brands can use to get shoppers in the door and spending despite these uncertain economic times. And, the Internet provides an easy to use vehicle to search for coupons,” said Alisa Joseph, vice president, advertiser marketing services, Scarborough Research.

Scarborough also examined Grocery Coupon Clipping Households*, or those households that use grocery coupons (specifically) once a week or more. The analysis found Milwaukee, WI and Rochester, NY are the leading U.S. market areas for these households. 40% of Milwaukee households and 38% of Rochester households use grocery coupons once a week or more. Nationally, 27% of households use grocery coupons with this same frequency.