How coupons performed in 2013

Over the last six years or so, United States consumers have been more aggressively seeking a “good deal” when making a purchase. Coupons, in print and digital form, are one way to do that. Recent research has showed that coupon redemption is slowly decreasing from previous years.

According to MediaPost, various studies produced by NCH Marketing and Valassis have reported the following facts:

·        Coupons produced and distributed by marketers increased by about 3.3% last year. The total distribution is estimated at 315 billion coupons.

·        Total coupon redemption has decreased by about 3.4% to 2.8 billion.

·        The most common reason why consumers said he/she did not use coupons in 2013 was that coupons for products that he/she wanted to buy could not be found. That was the biggest response with 49%.

·        With 28.7% of respondents agreeing, the second most common was that the coupons expired before the consumer could use it.

·        In 2012, the time in which to redeem coupons was an estimated 9.3 weeks. In 2013, that dropped to 8.6 weeks.

·        Free standing inserts (FSI’s) typically account for 91.2% of coupons distributed and about 50.8% of all redeemed coupons. However, FSI’s in general still have low redemption rates.

·        While digital coupons did see growth in use in 2013, it still only accounts for less than 1% of all coupon distribution.

The takeaway for marketers is coupons are still valid for consumers. However, accessibility and time restraints do play a factor in use.